Storm fall in penalties in A-R-C Tournament

DECORAH, Iowa - The Simpson College men's soccer team dropped a heartbreaker in the first round of the American Rivers Conference Tournament at Luther, falling in penalties after a 3-3 draw through a full game and two overtime periods.

The Storm (7-10-1, 4-4 A-R-C) see the season come to a close, while the Norse (6-7-6, 4-3-1 A-R-C) move on to face top seeded Loras in the semifinals. Ben Reynolds struck twice in the first half, while Andrew Russell added Simpson's other goal.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Storm opened the scoring in the first 10 minutes of the game. A ball was played into the box that was flicked on by Ronaldo Ordaz and headed in by Reynolds to give the Storm a 1-0 lead.
• The Norse responded after the Storm could not clear a cross into the box, allowing Luther to score with a header in a similar fashion to Simpson's opener.
• Luther turned the game on its head in the 42nd minute. A Storm defender slipped in the box, as a Luther attacker won the ball and played a simple pass to Ramzi Ouro-Akondo, who finished high into the net.
• Simpson recaptured all the momentum with just a handful of seconds left. Jackson Mears stayed composed to find Reynolds outside of it, who swept by his man and fired a precise, low curling drive into the bottom right corner.
• Simpson took the lead just over 20 minutes into the second half, when Ordaz won the ball at midfield. He played a defense-splitting pass to Russell, who held off a challenge from a Luther defender and scored near-post to give the Storm the lead.
• Luther equalized with less than five minutes to go. Simpson sliced an attempted clearance after a free kick, allowing Luther to have a volley shot that was first brilliantly saved by Arya Nowroozi, but the follow-up came right to Ouro-Akondo to tie the game at 3-3.
• After two scoreless overtime periods, the Norse converted all four of their penalty kicks, while Simpson had one saved and one miss high.

NOTABLE

• With two assists, Ronaldo Ordaz tied the Simpson single-season record with 11 assists on the year.
• The 3-3 draw after 90 minutes was the first draw that the Storm played to all season.
• Ben Reynolds recorded the first-multi goal game of his career with his two goals in the first half.
• The penalty shootout was the Storm's first since winning one against Wartburg in 2015.

The loss completes the season for the Storm. The team will return to action next fall.