Nothing has come easy this season for the Albert Lea boys’ soccer team and a 3-2 overtime win against Waseca Saturday was no different.

The Tigers (4-5, 1-3) went down 2-0 in the first half against the Bluejays, and have struggled closing out games early on this season, but Albert Lea displayed some toughness and scored its biggest win of the season in Waseca.

“It was basically what the doctor called for,” Tigers head coach Elia Romano said. “The encouraging thing is we responded to it (being down) differently than we have in the past.”

Albert Lea scored 10 minutes before the half when Felipe Ambriz connected on a left-footed blast into the far corner of the goal to give the Tigers some confidence heading into the second half.

Then with time running out in the second half Lucas Dang scored on a direct free kick from just outside the 18-yard box to send the game in overtime.

In overtime Ambriz scored his second goal of the game from 30 yards out on a shot that bounced and slid underneath the Bluejays keeper.

It was a big day for Ambriz who hadn’t scored a goal all season until Saturday. His offensive production at the forward position is a key for Tigers and Romano was glad to see him score a pair of goals.

“Those were his first two goals of the year, and that’s huge,” Romano said. “He did a good job of getting his head back where it needed to be.”

The two goals the Albert Lea defense yielded came on plays through the middle of the field and poor communication between the defense led to one of the goals, Romano said.

The Tigers played without starting goalkeeper Cameron Hove in the second half after he came out to challenge for a ball and collided with a Waseca attacker who struck Hove in the nose with his cleat.

“This was so much better than a blowout win because we got the chance to come back from two goals down,” Romano said. “Hopefully it answered some questions for the players.”

There are, however, still questions with the lineup as the Tigers are without midfielders Lars Gjersvik and Tyler Prihoda. Gjersvik aggravated a groin injury last week and Prihoda has been nursing an ankle injury. Prihoda is expected to return Tuesday against Austin while there is no timetable on the return of Gjersvik.

The game against Austin Tuesday will be an important one for Albert Lea as the game will count as a conference game and the Tigers will try to avenge a 1-0 loss to the Packers.