After the Albert Lea boys’ soccer team stumbled to an 1-4 start to the season, a home playoff game seemed unlikely.

But the Tigers did just enough over the final two weeks of the season, winning two of its last four games, and earned the No. 8 seed in the Section 1A Tournament.

The Tigers play ninth-seeded Stewartville at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Hammer Field.

“I’m very happy,” Tigers coach Elia Romano said. “It’s nice that the boys got rewarded with one more home game.”

It won’t be the first time Stewartville (6-7) has played at Hammer Field this season. The team was swept by Fairmont and Schaeffer Academy in the Albert Lea Invitational on Sept. 10.

“I like our chances,” Romano said. “We’ll have to show up, and the team has been fairly inconsistent, but we’ve been playing good soccer over the past couple of weeks.”

Whichever Tigers team wins (both teams share the same nickname) will likely face top-seeded Rochester Lourdes (14-2) in the quarterfinals. Lourdes has won nine consecutive games and is currently ranked fourth in the state by the coaches association. Albert Lea lost to Lourdes 2-0 last season in the section semifinals.