Storm earn first A-R-C triumph of season

INDIANOLA, Iowa -- Cami Schmalz and Megan Roberts both scored goals to help the Simpson women's soccer team earn its first American Rivers Conference victory of the season in a 2-0 victory over Luther on Saturday.

The Storm (7-1-5, 1-0-1 A-R-C) tallied their 100th-career conference win in program history in front of the home crowd from the result. Along with that milestone, Simpson honored its nine seniors after the match, Emma Fleddermann, Dani Marquez, Daria Mather, Jessica Payne, Cami Schmalz, Miki Schmidt, Aimee Shrock, Tori Vaudt and Bre Waugh.

Schmalz tallied her sixth goal of the season in the 17th minute off a cross by Schmidt from less than five yards outside of the goal for the game-winner.

Megan Roberts gave Simpson some breathing room in the 52nd minute with her fifth goal of the year and third this week. The Norse's (4-7-1, 2-2-0) goalkeeper was trying to clear the ball and Roberts was able to deflect the ball towards an open goal, allowing her to tap it in for the score.

Luther held the shots advantage with 12 and held the Storm to nine attempts.

Rachel Neumann remained perfect in goal with five saves and now has a season record of 5-0-5.

Notes
• Schmalz connected on her fourth game-winner of the year.
• Schmidt received her first career assist during the game.
• This is the first time the Storm have scored against Luther since Oct. 4, 2014. Simpson lost 2-1 in double overtime in that matchup on the road.
• The Storm are one of two teams without a conference loss along with Loras, which is 4-0 so far.
• Simpson tallied its eighth shutout of the season and first in six matches.

Comments from Coach Reinert
"I'm incredibly proud of our nine seniors, the investment they have made in the program, the effort they gave tonight and the foundation they have laid.

Tonight was a great win for our program against a tough conference opponent. We earned a massive three points, more importantly we saw growth.

There's a lot of conference play remaining and we have positioned ourselves well early. It's a short turnaround to Tuesday, we need to shift our focus quickly and prepare for another chance to improve."

Up Next
Simpson travels to Buena Vista on Tuesday for another A-R-C match. The contest is slated to begin at 5 p.m.