Box Score
The Prairie Fire suffered a 7-0 setback on Saturday against a resurgent Monmouth College team that's gone from struggling to fighting for the top spot in the Midwest Conference.
Monmouth (7-4-2, 4-0-2 MWC) tied the school unbeaten streak record at eight and is only one conference point behind league leader and preseason favorite Carroll University (6-6-1, 5-0-0 MWC).
The Pioneers have 15 points, followed close behind by the Fighting Scots with 14. Monmouth was picked to finish eighth in the 2011 Preseason Coaches Poll.
The Prairie Fire (1-11, 0-4 MWC) tied Monmouth with 11 shots in the first half but trailed 3-0 at the intermission. The Scots put the match away in the second half with four goals and outshot the Fire 18-6 over the final 45 minutes -- and 29-17 overall. Monmouth outshot Knox 17-10 on goal.
Scot goalies Matt Schmidt and Zach Heilman teamed up to record 10 saves and combine for the shutout. Sophomore goalie Franz Huebner (Heredia, Costa Rica, Lincoln School) had 10 saves for the Prairie Fire.
Monmouth scored the first goal 6:51 into the match when Logan Simpson fired in the first of his three on the afternoon. Simpson, who also scored in the 69th and 73rd minute, also had an assist. His 14 goals lead the Midwest Conference.
Andy Sheller also had a big afternoon for the hosts with three assists while Devin Freitag and Josh Del Valle added two assists apiece.
Sophomore Maxwell Gatyas (Plymouth, WI, Plymouth High School) got off a match-high eight shots for the Fire, including six on goal, but Monmouth's goalies wouldn't let any of his attempts through. Junior Donald Tchopya (San Francisco, CA, Galileo Academy of Science and Technology) was next for Knox with five shot attempts, three of them on goal.
The Prairie Fire has lost 10 straight matches after a 5-4 win against MacMurray College at Jorge Prats Field on September 5. Knox tries to end the losing skid on Saturday at Lawrence University at 1:00 p.m. The Vikings, with a 4-1 record at home, have won two straight and three of their last four matches.
The Prairie Fire plays at struggling St. Norbert College Sunday at 1:00 p.m. The Green Knights (1-10-1, 1-4-1), picked to finish sixth in the preseason coaches poll after losing their top three scorers from last year's team, have dropped three straight matches. SNC is 0-2-1 at home so far in 2011.
Monmouth, which dropped four of its first five matches this season, hasn't lost since September 14 when Central College (IA) doubled up the Fighting Scots 4-2 at Peacock Park. The Scots have won their last four matches by a combined score of 16-1, including shutout victories at Illinois College (3-0) on October 4 and at home October 8 against Lawrence University (4-0).
Monmouth College has a big MWC meeting against Carroll University October 22 in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Beloit College (5-7-1, 4-2 MWC) and Lawrence (5-9, 4-2 MWC) round out the top four in the conference standings.
Lake Forest College, which owns the best overall record among the league's teams (10-2-2), is 2-2-1 in conference play. The Foresters are still very much alive for a spot in the MWC tournament on November 4 and 5.
Three of LFC's remaining matches are on the road, including the regular season finale against Carroll.
The Prairie Fire returns home to play an improved Illinois College (6-5-3, 1-3-1 MWC) October 26 at 3:30 p.m. The Blueboys have already doubled their win total from 2010 (3-15, 1-8 MWC).
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2011 Midwest Conference Men's Soccer Standings
2011 Midwest Conference Men's Soccer Statistics
