INDIANOLA — Suffering a 3-1 loss in its first American Rivers Conference match, the Central College men's soccer team fell at Simpson College Sunday afternoon.
           
Central (3-2-2, 0-1-0 conference) maintained possession for 50 percent of the match against Simpson (4-4-0, 1-0-0 conference) but two second-half goals cost them dearly.
           
"It was certainly not the result we were looking for today," coach Garry Laidlaw said. "We simply didn't do enough at either end of the pitch in terms of difference making actions."
           
After the Storm started the scoring in the 18th minute, Alejo Marcon's (sophomore, Resistencia, Argentina, Pella Christian HS) corner kick found Spencer Taylor (junior, Norwalk) for an equalizer.
           
"That was a bright spot for us," Laidlaw said.
           
Tied at halftime, Simpson outshot Central 11-2 in the second half and scored twice. Central had allowed only four goals in the first six games.
           
"Unfortunately, our defending on the day was not at the levels it has been to this point in the season," Laidlaw said.
           
The Dutch are in Mount Vernon Tuesday for a 5 p.m. match at Cornell College. Central has four games in seven days as another non-conference match is set for Thursday at Eureka College (I.) followed by a home match against the University of Dubuque on Saturday.
           
"The rescheduling of the Cornell game has caused some fixture congestion this week," Laidlaw said. "We'll need to manage the squad and fitness levels of some of the players. On the other hand, two non-conference matches during the week will also give us an opportunity to sort some parts of our game out."