ROCHESTER &8212; The eighth-ranked Albert Lea wrestling team wanted to win its first dual at the opening day of The Clash Friday to get into the second session of Saturday&8217;s action.

Wagner, S.D. challenged the Tigers but Albert Lea got the job done 35-31 before splitting its final two duals of the day. The Tigers had to battle to the final match against the top team in Class B of South Dakota wrestling, but when No. 2 Logan Kortan earned a technical fall over Jared Soukup Albert Lea won 35-31.

Albert Lea would fall to Waverly-Shell Rock &8212; which is ranked fourth nationally &8212; 49-15 in the next round before closing out day one with a win over top-ranked Wisconsin Rapids, 31-24.

&8220;We wrestled three No. 1 teams today and went 2-1 so that&8217;s not too bad,&8221; Albert Lea head coach Larry Goodnature said. &8220;We had the top teams from South Dakota, Iowa and Wisconsin and wrestled them tough.&8221;

Wagner jumped out to a 9-0 lead after two matches as Robert Kokesh pinned Anthony Tippett and top-ranked Ryan Kocer earned a 6-2 decision over Mitch Webb.

Matt Tiegs got three of those points back with a 7-1 decision over Steven Holzbauer at 171 and No. 4 Logan Hansen followed with a technical fall.

Ethan Reed gave the Tigers their fist lead with an 8-4 win over Mavrick Hill to make the team score 11-9.

Eighth-ranked heavyweight Andrew Peterson came up big for A.L. with a pin of Chad Brecke in 1:40, but No. 3 Cory Hansen was stuck by Wagner&8217;s top-ranked Alex Kocer in 5:15 at 103 pounds.

No. 1-ranked Cody Hansen earned the points back for the Tigers at 112 pinning Derek Dickerson in 3:24 while Kyle Kriewall earned a 5-4 decision at 119 and No. 9 Trevor Rasmussen earned a major decision at 125 to make the Tigers&8217; lead 15 at 30-15.

However, Wagner got a major decision from No. 6 Austin Schroeder at 130 over Adam Clark, Connor Kortan was pinned at 135 and the Tigers forfeited to top-ranked Daniel Koupal at 140 making the score 31-30 in favor of Wagner.

Logan Kortan dominated his match to secure the dual win.

&8220;It was a team effort and having to come from behind in two matches it is good to see us not panic or give up the ship,&8221; Goodnature said.

Albert Lea struggled against W-SR falling behind 27-0 before Cody Hansen downed sixth-ranked Cody Caldwell 4-2 at 112. It was the first match the Go-Hawks had lost in 21 matches to begin the tournament.

Rasmussen pinned Coty Hampton at 130 and Logan Kortan pinned Lawrence Creech at 140 to accoount for the team&8217;s other points.