PELLA, Iowa— The Prairie Fire men's soccer team tied with the Central College Dutch with a final score of 2-2 on Wednesday night. Despite holding a two goal lead for much of the day, multiple flukey shots by the Dutch, including one in the last minute of the game, paved the way for Central College to snatch a draw from the jaws of defeat.
 
In the first half, Knox's physical style of play on the defensive side led to them giving away several fouls. Despite this, the Prairie Fire managed to keep the ball in the middle of the field, until a 35th minute corner kick led to Yohane Griffin's first goal of the season off a solid assist from Pedro Moura. Central managed to mount an attack after this, although despite getting several shots off they could not get any on goal, and Knox led 1-0 at the half.
 
The Prairie Fire started off the second half by scoring almost immediately. A nice Jake Totty goal put Knox up by two goals, and the team followed this up by being even more aggressive on offense. A barrage of shots on goal failed to net anything of substance, and after awhile they resorted to playing out of their half again. Central College was largely unable to break through Knox's defense, until the 86th minute, when Matthew West scored a surprise goal for in from the wing for the Dutch. Although it still appeared that Knox was still about to win, a goal by Charlie Pritchard with less than 30 seconds in the game sealed a sudden unfortunate Prairie Fire collapse.

"We played well early on, but let a tough Central team take advantage of our defensive mistakes," said head coach Brian O'Connor. "Looking forward to see how the team responds this weekend."
 
Knox next plays at Wartburg College on Saturday 21 at 7:00 p.m.