Box Score

Jacksonville, IL – Illinois College dealt the Prairie Fire their first loss in over a month with a 1-0 Midwest Conference victory on Tuesday afternoon.

The Blueboys (8-4-1, 3-2 MWC) scored the only goal of the match on a penalty kick at the 83:31 mark and held on the rest of the way for their fourth straight win.

Knox (11-2, 4-1 MWC) lost for the first time since its season-opener at home against top 10 nationally ranked DePauw University (10-0-1) on August 31.  The Prairie Fire topped Grinnell College 2-1 in OT on October 5 at Jorge Prats Field for a new men's soccer record of 11 straight wins.

Knox outshot IC 5-4 overall and 4-2 on goal in the first 45:00 of the match.  The teams finished with nine total shots apiece, six of them on goal by the Prairie Fire and four by the Blueboys.

Knox and Illinois College have both been tough to score on in Midwest Conference matches this season.  The Prairie Fire have allowed just two goals against league opponents through five contests while IC has surrendered four in the same number of games.  Two of the goals were scored by St. Norbert College in a 2-0 win by the Green Knights at Illinois College on September 22.

The shutout was Illinois College's fifth so far in 2013.  Knox, behind junior goalie Sean Dockrell (Dublin, Ireland, San Bernadino CC), has posted eight shutouts.  Dockrell recorded three saves against the Blueboys.

Despite the setback, the Prairie Fire and Lake Forest College are tied for the most conference points with 12.  Knox and LFC are three points up on IC, Carroll University, and St. Norbert.  Only Lake Forest (6-5, 4-0 MWC) and Carroll (7-3-1, 3-0 MWC) remain undefeated in league competition followed by St. Norbert (4-6-2, 3-1 MWC) and the Prairie Fire with just one conference loss.

UPDATE (October 10): Lake Forest defeated Carroll 1-0 on October 9 in Waukesha, Wis. to become the only team without a Midwest Conference loss.  The Foresters (7-5, 5-0 MWC) have 15 conference points followed by second place Knox with 12.  Carroll, St. Norbert, and Illinois College trail the Prairie Fire by 3 conference points with 9 each.

Knox plays an important Midwest Conference match at St. Norbert on Sunday afternoon at 1:30.

The Green Knights blanked Beloit College 6-0 at home on October 5 to snap a string of three straight shutout losses that began with a 4-0 defeat at Lake Forest on September 28.  The two other losses were at UW-Platteville (3-0; September 29) and UW-Oshkosh (2-0; October 2).

Live video of the Prairie Fire at St. Norbert College will be available online at http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/snc.portal#