Storm come from two down, tie AIB 2-2

INDIANOLA, Iowa – A pair of second half goals by Mitchell White helped the Simpson men's soccer team erase a two-goal deficit and earn a 2-2 tie against AIB on Wednesday.

White scored off a penalty kick in the 49th minute and added a header off a great cross from Spencer Cook in the 63rd minute for the Storm (6-0-2).

It didn't look good early as the Eagles (5-4-1) got out to a 2-0 lead in the first 27 minutes. Simon Jakob hammered in the first goal off a throw-in in the eighth minute and Rodrigo Espriu found the back of the net off a steal in Simpson's defensive third in the 27th.

"I think we learned a little bit about ourselves tonight," head coach Rick Isaacson said. "This was the first time we've had to crawl out of a two-goal hole, so I was proud of our effort in the second half. It took a lot of guts to fight and claw back after going down two."

White has scored at least one goal in each of the last four games and has five in the last two. His two-goal performance Wednesday followed his hat trick in a 5-1 win over Grinnell on Sept. 18. The junior now has 28 goals during his career, moving him into sole possession of sixth on Simpson's all-time list.

"We talked about it last week and we saw it again tonight, he's just gutsy and sells out in the box," Isaacson said. "He finds ways to get on the end of balls that some guys might not get to."

After AIB controlled much of the first half, Simpson came back and played the role of attacker in the second. White and Tyler Neumann both made serious bids for game-winners in regulation. White redirected a pass in the box on a sliding attempt that rolled a foot wide of the far post and Neumann flicked a header from three yards out that just overshot the crossbar.

"We were able to generate a lot of quality scoring opportunities and were fortunate to come away with two, but realistically we could have had four or five," Isaacson said.

Luke Aronow went all 110 minutes in goal for the Storm, making eight saves. Darren Marcello had five for AIB.

Simpson opens Iowa Conference play on Saturday, Sept. 28 when it travels to Pella for a meeting with Central. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m.