Whether it’s Eli and Peyton, Bob and Mike Bryan, or Venus and Serena, sibling combinations in sports always seem to draw spectators in. Seeing a genetic connection flourish in our favorite sporting arenas is special.

Simpson has had a few of these sibling connections of their own recently in Kinsey and Kylie Van Houten for softball and Austin and Ryan Stumbo for men’s basketball.

Nick and Louis Joslyn are the newest sibling duo to hit Simpson’s campus, making themselves known running up and down Bill Buxton Field for the men’s soccer team and sporting suave hairdos that have often gotten the two mixed up amongst coaches.

Nick, ’18, and Louis ’16, both joined the Storm soccer squad coming out of Baldwin High School in Baldwin, Kansas. Fittingly, their father Mark was their coach.

With only two years separating these two, Nick and Louis began honing their skills and testing one another long before they even joined each other in high school.

“I really enjoy playing with Nick,” said Louis, “We have good chemistry, built from years playing together in the backyard and through high school and now. I feel like we really know each other and what one another will do on the field.”

While the two say there isn’t necessarily a brotherly rivalry between the two, both Nick and Louis admit to having an ongoing competition in matching each other’s standards, both on and off the field.

“It’s not really a rivalry,” remarked Nick. “But who sets the standard and if you don’t meet that it’s like you’re not doing it right. We make each other better.”

Louis described Nick as more of a technical player, being better with the ball. Nick gave Louis the upper-hand defensively, looking up to his older brother as a model of work ethic as well. But, when Louis suggested that he is better with the ball in the air, Nick quickly reminded Louis, “Hey I scored with the header on Sunday!”

Despite striving to match one another in the classroom and on the pitch, Nick at first made it a plan of his not to follow his brother to Simpson.

“When Louis went to Simpson I was like, okay I’m not going there,” said Nick. “I spent 18 years with him and now I want my own path. Slowly from talking through text and him saying he liked it, I kept Simpson on my radar. I went through different colleges and found that Simpson was right for me.”

Nick and Louis were both highly scouted out of high school, having an opportunity to play at Eastern Illinois University, which has Division I athletics. However, Simpson’s newly found possession-based style was intriguing to Nick. Simpson eventually won Nick over, which pleased Louis, who saw Simpson as a great fit for Nick.

“I definitely wanted him to come here,” said Louis. “He’s a good soccer player and my best friend. I know academically Simpson had what we were looking for as we are both in math-related majors and we have a great math program here. That worked well for us.”

So far things appear to be gelling well for the Joslyn brothers, especially on the field. Louis has appeared in all 49 games of his career so far, compiling 15 points as well as a 1^st Team Academic All-District Award in 2013. Nick has started off strong himself, earning four points on two goals through three games played. Nick can attribute some of this early success to the comfort of playing with a brother.

“It’s nice coming in having a brother that is a junior, and knowing someone who is familiar with you,” said Nick. “I’m a lot more relaxed going out on the field knowing who’s out there.”

The Joslyn duo shone in their game against Concordia College from Moorhead, Minnesota on Sept. 7, in which Nick and Louis both scored goals, giving Simpson their only two goals on the afternoon in a 2-1 win.

Nick and Louis are a couple of key players in a deep Storm squad which seems to be poised to make a run for the IIAC title in a conference with tough contenders such as Wartburg, Loras and Luther.

“We have eight different players with ten or more career goals. We think winning the IIAC is attainable.”

When asked about whether or not they modeled themselves after a brother-duo in professional sports, Nick and Louis were both stumped. But when asked about their love of the game and camaraderie as brothers, Nick and Louis aren’t short for words.

“I don’t know who we would model ourselves after,” said Louis, “I guess we are just unique!”