AUSTIN &045; Two goals in the first two minutes proved to be too big of a hole for the Albert Lea girls&8217; hockey team to dig out of against 15th-ranked Austin Thursday night at Riverside Arena.

The Tigers&8217; game plan was to play it close the first 10 minutes, but that evaporated quickly when goalie Kelli Hanson allowed a pair of soft goals to begin the game in a 4-1 defeat.

&8220;We had to play catch up all night long and that is a tough hole for us to get out of,&8221; Albert Lea head coach Steve Falk said.

Hanson would recover nicely to hold down the Packers until late in the second period, but Albert Lea had problems putting the puck in the back of the net all night long.

Jenna Christensen scored the Tigers&8217; lone goal late in the first period off assists from Madi

Passingham and Katie Nelson. Albert Lea would have several chances to try to put more pressure on its Big Nine foe but just missed.

&8220;The girls skated hard and I think we out passed them, but we continue to struggle finding the net,&8221; Falk said. &8220;Kelli really played well after allowing those two soft ones.&8221;

The A.L. defense led by Abby Leach and Nelson would hold the Packers off the board until late in the second period to make it 3-1. Austin would add one more goal in the third to complete the scoring.

Hanson stopped 43 shots on the night while the Tigers fired the puck 21 times.

The loss moved the Tigers to 2-3 overall and 2-2 in conference action as this was the first of nine straight road games for Albert Lea.