GALESBURG, Illinois – The Prairie Fire started the new season strong and avenged a loss against Blackburn College from over a decade ago.
Knox extended its winning streak at Jorge Prats Field to 10 straight dating back to last season with a 4-2 victory on Friday over the Beavers in the first match of the year for both squads.
Knox and Blackburn played for the first time since September of 2002. The Beavers prevailed 3-0 in that match on their home field.
The Prairie Fire (1-0), coming off a 13-win season and a trip to the Midwest Conference tournament in 2013, broke loose with three goals after the break to seal the win against Blackburn.
The Beavers struck first, sinking a penalty kick 7:36 into the contest for a 1-0 lead. Knox bounced back about 10:00 later when junior
Nathaniel Logie (Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, Queens Royal College) eluded a defender and fired a shot that found the back of the net to force a 1-1 tie.
Neither team scored again until after the intermission.
The Prairie Fire jumped in front 2-1 on a goal by junior
Charlie Harned (Webster Groves, MO, Clayton) from first-year
Kendall Davidson (Fayetteville, GA, Sandy Creek) just 33 seconds into the second stanza. The hosts took their biggest lead at 3-1 when first-year
Sam Tatum (Atlanta, GA, Paideia School) scored on an assist from junior
Abdulsalam Oganla (Lagos, Nigeria, The International Academy) at the 61:02 mark.
Blackburn (0-1) hung around and trimmed the deficit to one at 3-2 with a tally in the 76th minute.
Knox sealed the win on Harned's second goal of the afternoon with less than 90 seconds to play. Oganla, meanwhile, recorded his second assist on the goal.
The Prairie Fire were on the attack most of the afternoon and outshot Blackburn 16-5 overall, including 12-3 on goal.
Knox goes for a second straight win to begin the season on Tuesday, September 2 at the University of Chicago. The match is slated to begin at 4:00 p.m. The Maroons (1-0) won 2-1 at Dominican University on Friday in their first match of 2014.
