After a shaky start to the season, Albert Lea has broken its losing streak.

The Albert Lea Tigers girls’ soccer team defeated the Stewartville Tigers 5-2 Monday at Jim Gustafson Field. The win is Albert Lea’s first of the season, bringing its overall record to 1-4, while its Big Nine Conference record is 0-3.

“We finally broke through with goal scoring,” said Albert Lea head coach Rick Barnhill.

Barnhill said he was happy with the fact that Albert Lea’s goals were scored by a variety of players.

Albert Lea sophomore Rachel Rehnelt scored two goals for the Tigers. Both of Rehnelt’s goals were scored in the first half, the first with 34:56 left in the half and the second being scored with 8:10 left. In between, Stewartville found the net, leaving the score at halftime 2-1 in Albert Lea’s favor.

“Rachel Rehnelt had two outstanding goals,” Barnhill said.

About 10 minutes into the second half, Albert Lea junior Claire Sherman scored. Stewartville answered back with 13:46 left in the game, but it would be the Stewartville Tigers’ last goal of the evening. Albert Lea juniors Haley Lamping and Callie Hanson each scored goals in the second half with 11:22 and 7:34 remaining, respectively.

Barnhill said his players had “nice displays of composure,” using breakaways to get into open scoring positions.

“I think the scoring helped us relax a bit, and certainly just winning the game at least gave us some evidence and living proof that it actually could be done,” Barnhill said. “It was really a relief to witness.”

Barnhill also noted that Albert Lea’s C-squad and junior varsity teams were victorious against Stewartville on Monday. The C-squad shut out Stewartville 13-0, bringing its record to 3-3-1 on the season. The junior varsity team also shut out the “other” Tigers 6-0, bringing its record to 2-3 overall.

Next, Albert Lea’s varsity team will go on the road to play at 5 p.m. today against Rochester John Marshall.