The Prairie Fire men's soccer team was unable to pick up its first win in Midwest Conference play and to snap a six-match losing streak during a pair of contests at Carroll University and Ripon College last weekend.
Knox played Carroll to a close match Saturday but lost 3-0. The Fire held the Pioneers to one goal in the first 90 minutes - a score by Steve Koprowski at the 7:39 mark. Carroll added two more goals in the second period - one by Nick Tripoli at 56:30 and the last score at 67:44 by Jordan Wickman.
Knox struggled to get shots off against the stout Carroll defense. Sophomore Donald Tchopya (San Francisco, California) took three of the Fire's four shots on the afternoon and first-year player Demoz Desta (Chicago, Illinois) managed the visitors' only shot on goal. Meanwhile, Carroll took 15 shots overall and seven on goal.
Sophomore goalie Robert Porter (Tucson, Arizona) had four saves in the match.
Carroll improved to 7-6-1 overall and 5-1 in Midwest Conference matches with the victory to remain in a first-place tie with the team Knox moved on to play on Sunday, Ripon College, while Grinnell College also is in the hunt for the conference title.
The Red Hawks dominated from the start and beat Knox 8-1.
Ripon (10-4-1, 7-1 MWC) scored five goals in the first half to go up 5-1 at the break and stifle any real Knox hopes for a come-back. Three of the five Ripon goals were scored by Kevin Cederholm. He tallied his seventh, eighth and ninth goals of the season in the first 90 minutes.
The Prairie Fire's lone score, which was unassisted, was by first-year midfielder Maxwell Gatyas (Plymouth, Wisconsin) at the 28:40 mark of the match. The talented Gatyas, Knox College's leading scorer, has 10 goals this season. He's also tied for the team lead with four assists and is by far the leader in points with 24.
Ripon outshot Knox 32-2 in the match and held a 13-2 shots on goal advantage. Porter recorded eight saves in goal for the Fire, which lost its eighth match in a row and saw its record drop to 2-13-1 overall and 0-7 in league play.
Knox has two more matches to try to grab a conference victory. The first one is against Beloit (6-8, 1-5 MWC) at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at Jorge Prats Field as part of the College's Homecoming activities. The Fire's last match of the season is Tuesday at Monmouth College (2-11, 1-5 MWC) at 3:30 p.m.
