Need a measuring stick to determine the progress of the Albert Lea High School boys’ soccer team?&t;!–key-highlight–&t;.

Tuesday, October 16, 2001

Need a measuring stick to determine the progress of the Albert Lea High School boys’ soccer team?

Check out the scoreboard from Saturday. It shows the Tigers about six goals better than they were Sept. 8.

The ALHS boys avenged a 5-1 loss to Mankato West, winning when it counts the most with a 2-1 triumph in the Section 2A tournament.

The fifth-seeded Tigers improved their record to 6-11 while ending the season for the fourth-seeded Scarlets. Albert Lea advanced to today’s semifinal round at Southwest Minnesota Christian, which defeated Willmar 6-1 Saturday.

Haun said the Tigers’ improvement from their first game with West, which came in the Albert Lea Invitational, can be attributed to two things.

&uot;No. 1, we’re playing a lot better defensively,&uot; said Haun. &uot;And we’re finally getting a combination of players up the middle of the team who are playing together, playing very well, taking some pressure off the middle of the field. We were losing the middle of the field earlier in the year.&uot;

Playing strong at midfield at West, according to Haun, were Jason Christianson, Brady Plantage, Jeremy Jacobson and Taylor Zimmerman. Peter Hillman and Ryan Lowe anchored the defense in front of goalie Ethan Berg, who made 11 saves.

Matt Olsen scored the first goal, assisted by Zimmerman. Lowe got the gamewinner with 2:25 remaining. Paul Kelly assisted, Josh Johnson set up the play.

The Tigers were outshot 22-12.

Haun said that while he expects to see a strong opponent in Southwest Minnesota Christian when the teams meet at 4 p.m. today at Edgerton, he feels the Tigers can compete.

&uot;From what I know about them, they’re a passing team and we’ve had some trouble with teams like that,&uot; said Haun. &uot;We need to find a way to play the same strong defense we have the last two weeks. If we can do that and take advantage of the scoring opportunities we have, we’ll be O.K.&uot;