Grinnell inches past Simpson

INDIANOLA, Iowa – Less than one minute after Connor Skultety (Sr., Lincoln, Neb.) tied the match with a well-placed header in the 77th minute, Grinnell's Justin Koester put the Pioneers up for good as the Pioneers snuck past Simpson, 3-2 Thursday night at Buxton Stadium.

Koester's first goal of the season came from the far right wing and, in a crossing fashion, the ball tailed into the top left corner of the frame, just past the outstretched arms of Simpson goalkeeper Josh Youngman (Sr., Pella, Iowa).

"It was a hard-fought game," head coach Mike Wilson said. "It's frustrating though. It's a game we let slip away because we just didn't do enough to win; we were there, but Grinnell did the little things they needed to win the game."

Simpson (2-2-2) scored the first goal of the match for the fourth time this season when Lucas Haak (Jr., Ankeny, Iowa) set the table for Jim Frizzel (Jr., Grimes, Iowa) from 7-yards out in the 17th minute.

Then Andrew Stephenson took control for Grinnell (3-3), scoring the next two goals. His first goal came at the 23:02 mark, taking a rebound off Youngman and capitalizing on an empty net. His next goal came just over two minutes into the second half, when he took a cross from Mark Rosenberg and JP Prouty and tapped a delivery into the back of the net.

Trailing 2-1, Simpson picked up the attack, winning four corner kicks in a span of less than two minutes midway through the second frame. It was Sandro Tadic's (Jr., Urbandale, Iowa) serve from the right corner that Skultety expertly headed into the net at the 76:28-mark in the contest, tying the affair at 2-2.

For the match, Simpson held a10-6 edge in corner kicks, but everything else was nearly even. The two teams each took 14 shots and committed six fouls; Youngman made five saves in goal and Grinnell's Ben Schemper made four. The Pioneers put eight shots on goal while the Storm placed six.

"We've come so far with this group of guys," Wilson said. "We have the right guys here, but we're still in the process of getting people in the right places. We have a week now until the first conference game, so we need get our legs underneath us and get ready for Wartburg."

Simpson will travel to Waverly to take on the Knights Sept. 26 in a 3 p.m. start.