DAVENPORT, Iowa — The St. Ambrose (Iowa) men's soccer team may have controlled a majority of the game, taking 18 shots to just seven for visiting Knox College, but the Prairie Fire defense was more than up to the task, denying the Fighting Bees each time as the two schools battled to a scoreless tie on Sunday afternoon at St. Vincent's Athletic Complex. Knox is now 1-0-1 on the season, while St. Ambrose was playing it season opener to go to 0-0-1.
Fifth-year goalkeeper Nicolas Lantzendorffer, coming off his 14th career shutout just two days ago, swatted away four shots on goal in the opening half, then gave way to his understudy, first-year Diogo Pereirra, for the second stanza. The rookie kept St. Ambrose off the board as well, denying a pair of shots in his 45 minutes of action.
- Junior Arito Nakamichi was the top aggressor for Knox, contributing three of the team's seven shots, including one of the two that were on goal.
- It was a physical contest with nine yellow cards issued, five to the Prairie Fire and four to the Fighting Bees, though the hosts were whistled for 16 fouls compared to just seven for Knox.
- St. Ambrose had a number of scoring opportunities in the second half with eight corner kicks, but the stout Prairie Fire defense would not break.
- Bee goalkeeper Kai Domagala stopped a pair of shots to earn a shutout.
Knox will continue its eight-game road trip to start the 2024 campaign with a showdown at Dominican University in River Forest, Illinois, at West Campus Field on Wednesday afternoon at 2 p.m. Live stats for the game can be accessed through the official athletics website of Knox College, PrairieFire.Knox.edu.
