GALESBURG, Illinois - The Knox Prairie Fire men's soccer team defeated the Ripon College Red Hawks this Saturday at Jorge Prats Field, winning by a final score of 2-0. With the win today, the Prairie Fire snapped a two game losing streak, and their record moved to 7-6 on the season.

Knox's defense immediately set the tone for the game, as they refused to let the Red Hawks do anything of note in their half of the field. Ripon registered no shots the entire game, a result of the complete dominance that Knox enjoyed the entire match. The Prairie Fire's physicality was completely smothering while avoiding drawing too many fouls, with only one yellow card being awarded to them in the first half. Offensively, Knox was unable to do much, although Martin Garica had a nice effort while setting up his teammates nicely, as well. Due to their offensive woes, the Prairie Fire entered halftime tied with Ripon at 0-0.

The second half saw Knox's defense continue their impressive performance, but this time the Prairie Fire offense stepped up, as well. After sending several shots on goal, Joel Sanchez rocketed home a goal in the 59th minute off a pretty assist from Garcia, who was rewarded for his selfless play. Knox didn't look back after this as they took control of the game in every aspect. With Ripon's offense not producing any threats at all, the Prairie Fire were comfortable to sit back and be patient with their attack. In the 88th minute, Knox drew a penalty kick, which Lucas Piqueras converted easily, doubling Knox's final lead.

"We have fired off a ton of shots the last two games," said head coach Brian O'Connor. "We came out on the winning end today, but it would be nice to see more of those shots find the back of the net. Credit to the Ripon goalkeeper as he made some great saves today to keep the game close."

Knox looks to keep their conference record strong when they travel to Cornell College this Wednesday at 4:00 p.m.