Women's soccer ranked eighth in regional poll

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Riding a six-game winning streak into the American Rivers Conference Semifinals, the Simpson College women's soccer team secured the No. 8 spot in the final United Soccer Coaches regional rankings of the regular season.

The Storm defeated Central 2-1 in their most recent outing, advancing to the semifinal round of the conference tournament for the second straight year. The win was Simpson's sixth in a row and 11th overall. Over the course of the last six games, the Storm have outscored their opponents 29-6.

Of those 29 goals, 14 were scored by Cassie Nash who was voted the American Rivers Conference Offensive Player of the Week on Monday for the third consecutive week and fourth time this season. Nash ranks first in the conference and sixth in the nation with 22 total goals, the most by someone in the program since Christy Pierick scored 22 during the 2001 season. The senior also has six assists, giving her 50 points which is the most by a player in nearly 20 seasons.

Also earning player of the week accolades this week was goalkeeper Lani Mears. Mears improved to 10-4-1 between the posts with two wins last week. She tallied her sixth shutout of the year on Tuesday and made nine saves on the week, including eight in the team's playoff win. The senior transfer ranks third in the conference with a 1.184 goals against average and .773 save percentage.

The Storm continue their postseason play tomorrow night in Waverly against the No. 2-seeded Knights of Wartburg. The hosts have lost just one match this season. The winner of Wednesday's matchup will face the winner of No. 1 Loras versus No. 5 Luther on Saturday.

United Soccer Coaches Region IX Rankings
UW-La Crosse, 17-1-1
Loras, 14-0-3
Wartburg, 15-1-2
Carleton, 12-1-3
UW-Whitewater, 11-4-4
St. Catherine, 11-4-3
Saint Benedict, 12-5-1
Simpson, 10-5-1