Tigers fall in day trip north

Published 8:47 am Monday, August 30, 2010

The morning after beating Waseca 2-1 in their first match of the season, the Albert Lea girls’ soccer team traveled to Bloomington Jefferson and fell 11-2.

The Tigers (1-1) were outshot by the Jaguars (2-0) 67 to 5 but didn’t come away from the day empty handed, according to Albert Lea head coach Rick Barnhill.

“The idea was to take a trip and see that kind of competition,” he said. “We found out that we didn’t surrender against enormous odds.”

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The Tigers scored both of their goals in the first half behind Ariel Christensen and Taylor Thompson.

Thompson scored Albert Lea’s first goal at the 20-minute mark on what Barnhill described as one of the greatest goals he has ever seen at the high school level.

Thompson took the ball from the Tigers’ defensive third, and traveled all the way down field and lofted a left-footed kick into the net from 30-yards away. The goal was unassisted.

“It was just brilliant,” Barnhill said of the shot. “It was a tremendous run. She went coast-to-coast all by herself and it gave us life.”

The score made the match 3-1 at that point and Christensen’s goal came at the 38-minute mark of the first half.

The Tigers played two goalkeepers — Anna Brouwers had 19 saves in the first half, and Jaclyn Weitzel had seven saves in the second half.