Big Nine favorite Rochester Century is next on the schedule. Owatonna, possibly the best of the rest in the conference, was last week.

The Albert Lea High School girls’ soccer team needed a win Tuesday night and got it, defeating Rochester John Marshall 3-1 in their home opener at Hammer Field.

&uot;It’s nice to get that first win, definitely,&uot; said coach Paul Marka, whose team started 0-2. &uot;The first part of the season we play some tough teams.&uot;

Though the Tigers never trailed, Tuesday’s win was not easy.

Katie Dooley got the Tigers’ first goal of the game and the season about 10 minutes into the first half, knocking in a nice crossing pass from Amy Marka.

Albert Lea made it 2-0 with about seven minutes left before halftime when Jenny Birkhofer corralled a loose ball in front of the net following a corner kick by Katie Dooley.

The Rockets cut it to 2-1 midway though the second half, but the Tigers answered about 10 minutes later when Kelly Schreiber scored on an assist from Amy Marka. It followed a throw-in by Kendra Olchefske.

Albert Lea outshot JM 13-12. Annie Berger was the Tigers’ goalie.

The defense, according to Coach Marka, was again excellent, led by Brianne Plantage, Anna Sigurdson and Dooley.

&uot;We put Plantage on their best player and she shut her down,&uot; said Marka. &uot;Dooley usually plays defense but we moved her to forward a good 20 minutes of each half to try and give the offense a spark.&uot;

The Albert Lea junior varsity won 1-0, with Emily Staloch posting the shutout. The C-squad lost 2-1.

The Tigers play at 7 p.m. Thursday at Rochester Century.