HUDSON, Wis. &045; The Albert Lea U-11 girls’ soccer team dominated a field of eight teams at the Hudson Classic 2 Border Battle tournament last weekend and finished in second place.

The girls faced Forest Lake in their first game on Saturday. Albert Lea quickly established defensive control and then the offense took over and scored four unanswered goals while coasting to 4-0 victory.

Game two saw Albert Lea face a confident Apple Valley team. Apple Valley’s confidence quickly turned to shock as again the Albert Lea defense quickly shut them down and turned the ball over to Albert Lea offense which sent five balls into Apple Valley’s net for a 5-0 victory.

On Sunday morning Albert Lea faced a team from Hudson, Wis. Hudson was no match and Albert Lea went on to win 3-0.

As the top-scoring team in the tournament, Albert Lea won the right to face River Falls, Wis. in the championship game.

The title game was again dominated by Albert Lea’s defense, which allowed only two shots on goal the entire game. Unfortunately, one of those shots took an ugly bounce and found its way into the net. The Albert Lea offense responded with a goal of its own in the second half. Albert Lea’s midfielders and forwards controlled the ball throughout most of the game but couldn’t get their shots into the net. The Hudson goalie was very good and was kept very busy.

The game ended at a 1-1 tie.

The teams then played two scoreless five-minute overtime periods. Albert Lea maintained good pressure and shut down Hudson’s offense; however, the net proved very elusive for the local team. The overtime periods ended with the game still tied 1-1.

The outcome was decided on a penalty kick shootout. Each team chose five players to shoot penalty kicks. Albert Lea missed all five kicks and Hudson scored one to win 2-1. It was a heartbreaking loss for Albert Lea.

The Albert Lea girls played great soccer all weekend. The defense was extremely impressive and only allowed a handful of shots. Sophie Miller was the stopper and Morgan Stadhiem played sweeper. Katlin Cope, Ellie Johnson and Elizabeth Winkels, were the defensive wings.

Offensively, Albert Lea outshot its opponents by almost a 10 to 1 margin. Kelsey Paulson, Kellsie Dieser and Tara Chirpich played a strong forward position to help maintain the pressure. Miller led the scoring for Albert Lea with five goals. Abbey Arends scored four, Mariah Maras two, Lana Howe and Jenna Bowman one each. Stephanie Ferguson, Madi Pasingham, Ellie Johnson, Winkels, Jenna Bowman, and Maras picked up assists.