It is the time of year when souls become melancholy and distressed with the impending boredom now that fall sports are over. One of the major fall sports that ended a little bit prematurely by anyone’s estimation is soccer.

The fifth seeded men’s team was eliminated in the second round of conference play when they squared off against a tough Loras opponent.

The ladies lost in the semi-finals to a second seeded Luther team.

This is all old news though, no need to rehash the painful memories.

The big news is the recognition Simpson received from having three of its seniors selected for the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference All-Conference team.

“Basically the coaches from all over the conference have a big meeting and they bring up the names of the players they think should be all-conference,” said senior Brandon Volz.

“I think it has a lot to do with politics too. Sometimes it seems like it’s not exactly based on any hard statistics,” said senior Henry Petersen.

The lone player making first team all conference honors from the Storm was Volz. Two other seniors, Petersen and Brady Spangenberg (who was also a 2000 and 2001 second team all-conference player), were selected for second team all-conference spots.

“It feels good to get this individual award because it makes it seem like all the hard work and years of playing soccer have finally paid off,” said Volz.

“It’s really prestigious for Simpson too because it helps the rest of the conference see that we are competitors out there,” said Petersen.

The guys weren’t the only ones racking in the awards and commendations, the ladies were busy themselves. In fact the ladies had four players voted to all-conference status, one up from the guys’ three.

Freshman Ashley Curran joined senior Lindsay Clark (a 2002 first team, 2001 second team, and 2000 second team player) in making the first team all conference honors.

While sophomore Heather Barrett joined forces with senior Erin Goettl (2001 MVP, 2001 first team, and 2002 second team player) to populate the list of those who made second team all-conference.

“It feels good because the other coaches viewed my play as something that was recognizable and that makes it a great accomplishment,” said Goettl.

Although five of the seven all-conference players were seniors, the outlook for soccer is good because having a strong showing of all-conference players gives you something to sell to the recruits as a pledge of good faith about the strength of the program.