Alderson, Pochop lead Storm to 5-0 win over Coe

INDIANOLA, Iowa — Rick Isaacson wanted his team to start fast Tuesday. He wanted a goal in the first 10 minutes.

His team gave him three in the first six minutes.

Tanner Alderson and Garrett Pochop scored two goals apiece and the Simpson men's soccer team rolled to a 5-0 win over Coe on Tuesday night.

Simpson jumped all over Coe early, scoring three goals -- two from Alderson -- in the first 5 minutes and 31 seconds. The Storm (8-6-1, 3-2 Iowa Conference) took a season-high 31 shots to win their second game in a row.

"It was important to come out and continue to ride the momentum we generated with our big win over Dubuque last week," Isaacson said. "We were looking to come out and establish the tempo and pace of the game early. In fact one of our goals was to score in the first 10 minutes of the game so we could settle in."

Settle in they did. 

A freshman, Alderson struck from close range just over three minutes into the game. Two minutes later, Pochop made a run down the right wing that resulted in a goal. The flurry ended at the 5:31 mark when Alderson added his second goal of the game to give the Storm a 3-0 cushion.

"Tanner is coming along," Isaacson said. "As a freshman, he's still adjusting to the college game. We've tried some different personnel in different spots and he's benefited greatly from that."

Senior defender Josh Harry netted his first goal of the season in the 25th minute, heading in a well-placed corner kick from Nick Joslyn. 

"He's the center back and the leader of our defense but he also finds a way to contribute offensively," Isaacson said. "He takes a lot of our free kicks and goes up and attacks balls on corner kicks. He wears multiple hats for us."

Pochop polished off his second straight two-goal game by going upper 90 off a set piece just outside the box in the 52nd minute.

Michael Alderson made eight saves in goal for the Kohawks (1-11, 0-4), who lost their fifth straight.

As the season winds down, Simpson finds itself in the middle of a wide-open Iowa Conference race. With a 3-2 record in the league, the Storm are in a four-way tie for second place.

"It's anyone's game at this point," Isaacson said. "The win tonight was big in terms of putting us where we need to be in the standings. The next week or two are hugely important for us."

UP NEXT
Simpson travels to Winona, Minn. to face St. Mary's (Minn.) in the final non-conference game of the season on Monday, Oct. 17. The Cardinals (6-4-1) tied Hamline 1-1 on Saturday.

GAME NOTES
Pochop increased his goal total to 14 on the season, tied for the seventh most in school history and the most since Mitchell White also had 14 in 2013 … Pochop had the sixth, two-goal game of his career and fifth of the season  … Simpson is now 20-2-1 against Coe and has won six in row.