GALESBURG, Illinois - The Prairie Fire men's soccer team defeated Cornell 4-2 in the Midwest Conference opener on Saturday afternoon.

Martin Garcia put Knox on the board early with a goal in the 21st minute of the game. An own goal by Cornell gave the Prairie Fire a second score and Garcia added another in the 24th minute to give Knox a 3-0 advantage. Luis Lepervanche tacked on a goal in the 39th minute to send the Prairie Fire into halftime with a 4-0 lead.

The Rams found the back of the net at the 51:52 mark and again in the 59th minute to get back in striking distance, but the Knox defense stood strong the rest of the game to come away with the victory.

The Prairie Fire outshot Cornell 17-6 overall, including a 9-2 edge in shots on goal.

"We finally played like we are capable," said head coach Kevwe Akpore. "We still let a good team back in the game in the second half, but we got fired up and played our best soccer when the pressure was on. This is a huge victory to being MWC play."

Knox returns to action as they travel to Grinnell for another league matchup on September 27.