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Both the Albert Lea boys’ and girls’ soccer teams opened up section tournament play Tuesday afternoon in Byron.

The boys’ team started the night with a 4-0 loss to the Bears. As the No. 7 seed in the Section 1AA tournament, the Tigers were faced with the tall task of taking on the Bears, who are the No. 2 seed. Albert Lea struggled to gain momentum early, and the Bears pulled away to move into the second round.

The Albert Lea boys’ team loses four seniors from this year’s team, including Thay Htoo, Kaw Htoo, Jared Turrubiartes and Aaron Rocklin. They went 2-14-1 this season with a win over Triton and a shutout win over Stewartville.

The girls’ team also drew the No. 7 seed and fell to the Bears 5-0. Like the boys’ team, the girls struggled to find offensive footing and allowed Byron to pull away in the process.

There are seven seniors that will be moving on from the team,  including Esther Yoon, Abigail Chalmers, Malena Thompson, Evelin Perez Peralta, Wendy Lazaro, Lindsey Bizjak, Lucy Stay and Arianda Turrubiartes.

The girls went 2-15 this season with shutout wins over Faribault and Worthington.