Storm flood BV in 6-0 rout in season finale

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by Hunter Hillygus, Sports Reporter

 INDIANOLA, Iowa – On a rain soaked night, the Simpson women’s soccer team came to play.

The Storm (5-13, 1-6) put on a scoring display in the second half, finding the back of the net six times against conference foe Buena Vista (3-13, 0-7).

“We played down to our opponents level in the first half and that hurt us in the first half, we were taking our opportunities for granted, but we had a good halftime talk and they come out on fire [in the second half] and wanted to end on a good note,” said head coach Jill Serafino.

The second half scoring barrage was started by Meredith Harrison in the 47th minute when she found the back of the net off of a cross from the right wing for her sixth goal of the season. Casey Reisen made it 2-0 in the 68th minute, punching in a goal that got away from Buena Vista goalkeeper Rachel Novotny. Mackenzie Stump put the Storm ahead 3-0 in the 76th minute, drilling a free kick off the crossbar and into the goal from 10 yards out.

The next three Simpson goals came in a span of less than three minutes. Kate Morford scored off of a loose ball to make it 4-0 in the 83rd minute, Stump sent home her second goal of the night in the 85th minute to widen the margin to 5-0 and Reisen netted her second goal of the night less than 30 seconds later to make it 6-0.

Simpson dominated possession on the night, outshooting the Beavers 20-3 and held a 6-2 advantage on corner kicks.

Despite a lack of consistent success this season, Serafino is optimistic about the future.

“All of the returners are going to take what they learned this year and they’ll be even better next year,” she said. “Now we just have to get the incoming freshmen on board and I think we’ll be good.”

Serafino also credited her seniors for helping her have a smooth transition to Simpson.

“They were great. They all really bought into it and trusted me and I trusted them. They worked really hard day in and day out. It was an easy transition just because of them and I’ll always be thankful for that.”

The Storm say goodbye to seniors Laura Alt, Katelyn Behounek, Katie Eichelberger, Ashlee Faul, Megan Lankford, Amy Loverin, Kate Morford, Kristin Riley and Bailey Sipfle.