GALESBURG, Illinois - The Knox Prairie Fire men's soccer team suffered defeat this Tuesday against the No. 12 North Park Vikings at Jorge Prats Field, falling by a final score of 4-0. With their second loss in a row, their record sits at 1-3 on the young season.

The Prairie Fire started off by feeling out the Vikings defense, earning two corner kicks in the 6th minute as they made good progress in their attack. Unfortunately, that progress petered out, and by the 18th minute, North Park was knocking at the door of the Knox defense. The threat came to pass in the 20th minute, when the Vikings slotted home a goal through diving defenders. Knox tightened up after that, slowing down the North Park offense and preventing very many shots but also not getting off very many shots of their own. Other than Calvin Baker drawing a yellow card for the Prairie Fire, there was little to show for the rest of the half, and the score remained 1-0 at the break.

After a bevy of substitutions, Knox once again was forced on the defensive, with the Vikings earning multiple corner kicks and fouls while hammering shots on goal. They scored again in the 60th minute, on a strong shot from Peder Olsen. After some more physical play on North Park's part, the Vikings added another goal 12 minutes later, bringing the score to 3-0 and putting Knox in an almost insurmountable hole. The game was all but over in the 80th minute, when another goal for North Park brought their lead to 4-0 and ended any hope of a Knox comeback.

"North Park is always a tough side," said head coach Brian O'Connor. "They come at you and have the experience of multiple NCAA appearances. We played well at times in the first half, but we have some things we need to tighten up to play with teams of this caliber. We definitely know that we can play with some of the best teams in the nation when we execute our game plan."

Knox looks to end their losing streak this Saturday when they travel to Augustana to play the Vikings at 7:00 p.m.