The theme song of the sitcom, “The Jeffersons,” might describe the season for the Albert Lea U-16 boys’ soccer team, but it hasn’t been life in the deluxe apartment in the sky.

After finishing the regular season undefeated and making a trip to the state tournament in the Classic-3 division last season, the U-16 team moved up to the Classic-2 division. It’s a step up in the level of competition and as such the team has had to adjust, but it hasn’t found success like it did last season.

Albert Lea was handed its second consecutive 1-0 loss Monday at Memorial Park when it faced Sibley. Two weeks ago Albert Lea was beat in the final minute by Dakota Rev for a 1-0 loss.

Sibley found the game-winner with less than 10 minutes to play in the second half to keep Albert Lea winless in league play.

“How you get better is by playing better competition, no matter what the sport is,” said Albert Lea head coach Scott Pirsig. “If nothing else it prepares them a lot better for high school.”

Pirsig said it has been an adjustment for the team this season and the team has seen that the offensive opportunities come less often and defensively the mistakes have more weight.

“You have to play more intense and more steady,” Pirsig said.

The result Monday was a vast difference from the 4-1 defeat Albert Lea suffered against Sibley two and a half weeks ago.

“They have a couple of really strong forwards and we knew that,” Pirsig said. “They took advantage of that. We overplayed and made one mistake in the defensive zone and that’s all it takes.”

Sibley was without substitutions, but managed to keep pace with Albert Lea. Albert Lea had scoring opportunities, but one touch too many on the ball and the quick response of the Sibley defense quashed any chance of Albert Lea registering a goal.

While each team had nearly an equal amount of scoring opportunities, Sibley had more quality chances that forced goalkeeper Cameron Hove to make difficult saves.

“I think we set our shots up as well as they did, but we didn’t finish,” Pirsig said.

The team plays its next game next Monday against Eagan in Albert Lea.