Lake Forest, IL – The Prairie Fire's historic season ended in the semifinals of the Midwest Conference Tournament.

Top seed and defending MWC regular season champion Lake Forest College defeated Knox 2-1 on Friday at Farwell Field on the Lake Forest campus.  The Foresters advance to the championship on Saturday to play the winner of the second semifinal match between #2 seed Carroll University (13-4-1, 9-1 MWC) and #3 seed St. Norbert College (9-7-2, 8-2 MWC).

Lake Forest scored the first goal of the match at the 44:50 mark and took a 1-0 lead into the intermission.  The Foresters held a 10-2 edge in total shots during the first 45:00.

Lake Forest (14-6, 9-1 MWC) extended the lead to 2-0 on a goal at 61:06.

The Prairie Fire (13-6, 6-4 MWC) cut the deficit in half at 2-1 when senior Max Gatyas (Plymouth, WI, Plymouth Comprehensive) scored on a penalty kick at the 77:25 mark.  The goal was the seventh of the season for Gatyas, who improved to 5-of-5 in penalty kick situations.

The Foresters held off an aggressive Knox attack the rest of the way.

Junior goalie Sean Dockrell (Dublin, Ireland, San Bernadino CC) recorded five saves for the Prairie Fire, who set a school record for wins in a season with 13.

Along with the 13 victories, additional team records set by Knox in 2013 include consecutive wins (11), shutouts (9), goals scored (56), assists (42), points (154), and game-winning goals (13).

Dockrell established new records for goalie shutouts in a season (9), which ranks as the second-most in Midwest Conference history, and goals against average (0.77) – the 10th best percentage in MWC history.

Sophomore Nathaniel Logie (Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, Queens Royal College) set a record for goals (16), which included five game-winners (tied for #5 MWC history), and a new all-time high for points (37) in a season.

Gatyas, who was among the top ten national leaders in assists all year, finished with a school record 13.  Sophomore Charlie Harned (Webster Groves, MO, Clayton) set a new mark for assists in a match with five in a 6-0 win over Iowa Wesleyan at home on September 14.  The five assists also ties the Midwest Conference record.

The Prairie Fire improved by a staggering 12 wins in the past two seasons and seven in just one year.  Knox had a record of 1-16 (0-9 MWC) in 2011 and improved to 6-9-2 (2-6-2 MWC) last season, the first under the direction of head coach Matt Edwards.

Additional information about the 2013 Midwest Conference men's soccer tournament is available here