Brief breakdown costs Albert Lea boys’ soccer against Mayo

Published 1:05 am Tuesday, September 9, 2008

An eight minute span in the second half turned into a nightmare for the Albert Lea boys’ soccer team Monday night in Rochester against Rochester Mayo.

The Tigers (3-4, 1-2) were entrenched in a scoreless tie until the 57th minute when the Spartans (5-1, 2-0) found the back of the net. Rochester Mayo sent a shot into the lower corner of the goal on a shot where goalkeeper Cameron Hove was screened.

It didn’t take Mayo much longer to score the second goal. Just as Albert Lea was recovering from the first goal the Spartans came back for another tally and went on to add a third a few minutes later.

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Tigers head coach Elia Romano said the game did not feel like a 3-0 game after the two teams had played evenly throughout the first 65 minutes of the match.

“We played really well,” Romano said. “We played 65 minutes of great soccer, unfortunately the game was 80 minutes long.”

Maintaining a consistent effort throughout the entire game was a question mark heading into the season for Romano and the Tigers and while the team didn’t get the consistent effort it was looking for Monday night, Romano is starting to see the team turn a corner.

“It feels like we’re drawing closer,” Romano said. “We still need to find ways to draw our forwards into the game better.”