Rochester Mayo struck quickly against the Albert Lea boys’ soccer team Tuesday at Hammer Field in a 2-0 win, but two first half goals that came within the first 10 minutes of the game was all the Spartans would get.

Mayo outshot the Tigers (2-4 overall, 0-3 Big Nine) nine to two in the first half, but Albert Lea found its offense in the second half for nine shots. The Tigers, however, failed to find the back of the net on their chances in the second half.

“We just lost our focus on defense a couple of times and they stung us pretty quickly,” said Albert Lea head coach Elia Romano. “The second half was a lot more better than the first half.”

Thomas Hannon scored the first goal of the game for Mayo in the eighth minute of play when he broke in behind the Tiger defense. Three minutes later Kevin Kallmes sent a shot toward the far post that went in the back of the net for a 2-0 Spartans lead.

While the result wasn’t there for Romano’s club, he does see things beginning to improve with the team and expects the record to improve.

“I do think this team’s record is going to improve with time,” Romano said. “I think the second half of the season we’ll start to compile some wins toward the section tournament. If we can keep the belief that a game like this is within our reach we should be a very competitive team in the section.”

Romano said the goal coming into the game was to limit the goal differential and make sure there wouldn’t be a result similar to the Winona game where the Tigers were handed a 5-0 loss.

“I think Mayo had a good chance to break this open, but we managed to fight back,” Romano said. “I’m proud of them for their response.”