FOOTBALL:

Senior running back Jordan Beem extended his streak of consecutive 100-yard rushing games to eight with 171 yards on the ground, and senior wideout Matt Burrell hauled in five catches for 119 yards and two touchdowns. But the Storm couldn’t overcome a potent Wisconsin-Stout offense as they dropped their season opener 45-30 Saturday.

Simpson took a 17-10 lead with 2:17 left in the first half when quarterback Caleb Frye found Burrell on a 53-yard touchdown strike, but the Blue Devils were quick to respond. It took just two plays for Wisconsin-Stout to find the end zone before the half as quarterback Jay Alston found receiver Jordan Dabney for a 70-yard touchdown to take 17-17 tie into the half.

The Blue Devils struck first in the opening part of the third, as their methodical nine-play, 69-yard drive ended in a three-yard touchdown pass from Alston to Ben Hall to give them the 24-17 lead, a lead that they wouldn’t relinquish.

The Storm fought their way back into the game, scoring 13 unanswered points late in the third on another Frye to Burrell connection and a Nathan Russell touchdown reception, making the score 31-30 after Wisconsin-Stout blocked the extra point.

Wisconsin-Stout would respond, however, in the form of another Alston-to-Dabney touchdown. The combo hooked up for a 69-yard touchdown late in the third quarter to push their lead to 38-30.

Neither team was able to get anything in the way of offense going in the fourth, the only scoring on either side done by Stout’s Iyen Ogbomoh, returning a Frye interception to the house and giving the game it’s final score, 45-30.

Frye was 23-42 for 258 yards and throwing for three scores and two picks. Alongside Burrell, Jackson Redmond caught five passes for 76 yards, and Beem added six receptions for 33 yards.

Cole Cook led the Storm with 10 tackles, while Brendan Holmes tacked on eight. Nic Tusha had himself a day with six tackles, a forced fumble and recovery and last season’s IIAC sack leader Isaac Frazier picked up where he left off last season with a sack of his own.

The Storm are back in action Saturday at Illinois College.

VOLLEYBALL:

The Simpson volleyball team opened up its season this weekend at the Illinois College Invitational, going 3-1, defeating MacMurray and Illinois College 3-0 and Concordia Chicago 3-1.

The Storm’s only loss of the Invitational came in its last match versus the 9-1 Missouri Valley Vikings, losing 3-0.

Junior outside hitter Jacqueline Luth and freshman middle hitter Ty Duve were selected to the all-tournament team.

MEN’S SOCCER:

An impressive-looking Simpson men’s soccer team shutout Westminster (Missouri) Saturday with a score of 3-0 to move to 2-0 on the season.

Westminster, a NCAA tournament qualifier the past three seasons, couldn’t put the brakes on a potent Storm attack as junior Garrett Pochop scored his third goal of the season, while senior Donevan Roe and freshman Tanner Alderson added their first goals of the season.

Junior goalkeeper Chris Harris put together his first clean sheet of his career, despite Westminster holding a 10-to-9 advantage on shots.

The Storm return to play at 7 p.m. Wednesday when they host Carleton.

WOMEN’S SOCCER:

The Simpson women’s soccer team played to a 2-2 draw Saturday against Concordia Chicago.

The first 65 minutes of the game were a 0-0 stalemate until Concordia’s Sarah LaCost gave the game its first goal.

A wild sequence of events began in the 74th minute beginning with senior Maddie Thomas sending home the equalizer. Just one minute later, LaCost found the back on the net again to give Concordia the lead, but the Storm would respond.

Quickly.

One minute later, freshman Daria Mather scored the first goal of her career to tie the game at 2.

That is where the score would stay, as neither team could put in the winning goal, playing to two overtimes.

Sunday was a different story for the Storm, losing 4-1 to Judson, despite outshooting the Eagles.

Judson did most of their damage in the first half, scoring three of their four goals in the first 40 minutes of play.

Senior Megan Lankford scored her first goal of the season for the Storm in the 37th minute off an assist from fellow senior Meredith Harrison.

The Storm will compete for their first win of the season Wednesday when they travel to Omaha to take on St. Mary.

CROSS COUNTRY:

The Storm men’s and women’s cross country teams swept the Bill Buxton Invitational at Pickard Park Friday.

The men put together a dominate showing, with the top five places going to Simpson runners.

Trey Thompson won the 6k race, the first win of his collegiate career, in 19:31. Simpson alum Jake Sutton came in second with a time of 19:42, while Blake Willadsen took third with a time of 19:45.

As a team, the Storm men collected 15 points, beating Grand View and Iowa Lakes Community College handily.

The women were just as dominate putting together 22 points as a team, ahead of Grand View’s 37 and Iowa Lakes, who didn’t have enough runners to register a score.

Sadie Timms took home first place in the 4k with a time of 15:35, 24 seconds faster than the rest of the field. Courtney Neuendorf took third with a time of 16:17 and Briana McCloskey crossed the line in 16:31, good for fourth place.

The men’s next meet will be the 16th in Des Moines for the Grand View Invitational at 5:45 pm. The women’s next varsity meet will be the 23rd in Rock Island, Illinois, for the Brissman-Lundeen Invitational.

WOMEN’S GOLF:

The Simpson women’s golf team competed in the Sail Inn Classic this weekend in Cedar Falls, placing fifth out of 10 teams.

The Storm shot a team total of 351 Friday and followed that with a 354 Saturday.

Kelsa Berkland and Lydia Martin were the low scorers for the Storm on the weekend.

They tied for 16th among 63 golfers at the event. Berkland shot an 85 Friday and an 87 Saturday, while Martin shot an 87 Friday and an 85 on Saturday, giving both a total of 172.

Courtney Mabeus finished 27th shooting a 90-87 to total 177 on the weekend.

Simpson was fourth out of the eight Iowa Conference participants.

The Storm hit the links next this upcoming weekend at the Buena Vista Invitational in Storm Lake.