Albert Lea took a quick lead, but the Austin response was powerful Thursday as the Packers defeated the Tiger boys’ soccer team 3-1 at Hammer Field.

Lars Gjersvik put Albert Lea (2-5, 0-3 Big Nine) up 1-0 in the eighth minute but a series of brief defensive lapses later in the first half allowed Austin (4-2, 2-2 Big Nine) to storm back for three goals.

Francisco Torres scored the game-tying goal in the 21st minute and less than five minutes later the Packers took the lead when Jacob Brehmer headed home a cross at the back post to make it a 2-1 game. Brehmer notched his second goal of the game with a little more than a minute to play in the first half off a corner kick the Tigers failed to clear from the box.

The far-post defending and play in the air cost Albert Lea, two areas that have dogged the team in the early going.

“It’s really the free headers that are killing us at this point,” said Tigers head coach Elia Romano. “It’s not even that we’ve got to win the headers, necessarily, but they got to have a body at them and they’ve got to be thrown off. We’re still having a hard time with that.”

Torres scored his goal from the back post as did Brehmer, and the third goal came on a set-piece that has clearly been a sore spot for Albert Lea.

“We’re still giving up goals in the air in our box,” Romano said. “That last one with a minute left in the first half was a real spirit breaker.”

In the second half the Tigers were able to keep the Packers off the board, but didn’t look as dangerous in attacking the Austin defense as it did in the first half. For the game Albert Lea was outshot 18-9.

The positive for the Tigers was getting the first goal, but the offense still has room to improve.

“I think we’ll continue to get better at our penetration and our decisions over the ball,” Romano said. “A lot of it is we just need to relax and put ourselves in a place where we can make passes and take shots because right now we’re very tense in front of goal.”

It was the third consecutive loss for Albert Lea, which has scored just five goals on the season, but the team has remained positive through the struggles.

“They’re staying positive with each other,” Romano said. “That’s really helped us maintain our intensity and maintain effort in the face of what’s adding up to be a number of losses at this point.”

Next week will provide a further test for the Tigers when they face Mankato West Tuesday and Owatonna Thursday. Both teams are undefeated in the conference thus far.