Men's soccer drops heartbreaker to Wartburg

WAVERLY, Iowa - The Simpson men's soccer team led the 11th ranked team in the nation for more than 74 minutes before Wartburg scored twice in the final 16 minutes to hold on for a 2-1 win on Saturday.

Dan Nadeau scored the game-tying goal in the 75th minute and came up with the winner with just 39 seconds to play for the Knights (14-2-2, 5-0 Iowa Conference), who remained atop the conference standings.

"I was proud of our effort today and the boys fought hard," head coach Rick Isaacson said. "Unfortunately, we made a couple of untimely mistakes late in the match and a team of Wartburg's caliber is going to take advantage when that happens."

Tyler Neumann gave the Storm (10-6-2, 3-3) a 1-0 late in the first half when Mitchell White set him up for a low ball that found the back of the left net in the 42nd minute.

"It hurts to drop a game of this magnitude," Isaacson said. "We were in a position to take this game but let it slip away."

Simpson closes the regular season on Tuesday, Oct. 29 when it hosts Dubuque on Senior Night.

The Storm are currently tied for fourth in the league standings with the Spartans (6-9-1, 3-3), making Tuesday's game a big one in terms of seeding for the conference tournament. With a win, Simpson would earn the No. 4 seed and host a first round game. With a loss, Simpson would fall to the No. 5 spot.