Cards look for Big South title repeat vs. Eagles
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NEW ULM -- Last season, New Ulm and Fairmont Area squared off in the Big South Conference Girls Championship game in a match where the score was tied at 1 after both halves and an overtime period, sending the game to a shootout. There, Fairmont was finally able to come away with the victory as the Cardinals were crowned as conference champions.
This year, both teams have kept their rosters competitive, and the programs square off in a rematch from that 2025 game. The Big South title match will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday in Fairmont.
New Ulm won the regular season matchup this year 4-2 without its top goal scorer in Jesalyn Skoglund, who was out with injury. But New Ulm also came away with a 3-0 victory in the regular season last year, with the Cardinals reversing the outcome when it mattered most.
"[The first game this season] was a tough game, because they're a very physical team," New Ulm head coach Jonathan Johnson said. "The thing is going to be possession and moving the ball down the field and just not letting them have it. It's pretty cut and dry that way. As long as we're possessing the ball, they can't score."
Fairmont head coach Matt Nielsen had a similar note for how his team could come away with the win.
“We have to possess the ball and play smart,” he said. “We can’t panic and start passing to nowhere … I promise you New Ulm will be there. We have to stay patient and under control and possess the ball and grind for opportunities. They’re going to make us earn anything we might get against them.”
New Ulm comes into the match with an 11-2-2 record, with its only losses coming to Mankato East and undefeated Southwest Christian. Fairmont also holds an 11-2-2 mark, with losses to New Ulm and La Crescent-Hokah.
New Ulm's offense has stood out this year, as along with Skoglund setting an individual school record with 25 goals, New Ulm as a team has had its most productive offense in school history, recording 79 goals coming into the matchup.
"New Ulm is a very fast team,” Nielsen said. “They’re always very well-organized defensively. It can be very difficult to find lanes to pass through on their defense. Typically, their ball skills are second to none. Overall, they’re relentless. When we played them, we scored first … and not one of their players bowed their heads. They came back and beat us 4-2. They’re not going to let something as small as a goal get in their way.”
Fairmont, meanwhile, has scored 67 goals on the season and allowed just 12, allowing more than one in a game just twice, both in losses and recording seven shutouts. However, with four of those 12 goals coming from New Ulm, Nielson isn’t ready to just rely on that aspect of the team’s game in the upcoming match.
"We’re a defense that does well and they cover for each other,” he said. “If a central player goes and covers a player out wide, our wide defender fills back into that center spot. We cover our areas, so our defense can be very disciplined in that way. They communicate well and they cover for each other and do those things.”
Offensively, Fairmont is led by a trio of goal scorers in Mollie Leiding, Abbie Simpson and Olive Kawecki, who have had the majority of Cardinals goals this season.
New Ulm has surrendered 29 goals on the year, shutting out opponents four times.
New Ulm is coming off of a 6-2 loss to Southwest Christian, but the team showed fight in the second half against the top-ranked team in Class A, which Johnson finds encouraging headed into the conference championship game.
"The way the second half went is what I wanted to get them mentally prepared to go and take it to Fairmont from start to finish," Johnson said. "I think this was huge, to play a team of this caliber. I told [the team] at the beginning [of the second half], 'It doesn't matter what the score is, we just need to play our best.' That finally came out in the second half."