ROCK ISLAND, Ill. ­— The Knox College men's soccer team stumbled in the second half as host Augustana College tallied twice in a span of four minutes to pull away from the Prairie Fire and hand them a 3-0 defeat on Tuesday evening at Thorson-Lucken Field. The Vikings improved to 2-1 on the young season, while Knox dropped back to even at 2-2-1.

Derek Dedume provided the game-winner for the Vikings in the opening half thanks to a miscommunication between a Prairie Fire defender and goalkeeper Luke Mathieu. In the 27th minute, a pass caught Mathieu off-balance, and Dedume was there to put away the loose ball into an open net.

In the second stanza, Dedume placed a pass perfectly beyond the Knox defense to Jimmie Kucaba, who snuck a shot past keeper Nicolas Lantzendorffer and a defender for a 2-0 lead. Barely three minutes later, Ben Statz tacked on another goal with his header of a corner kick from Carlos Fernandez.

• The game was closer than the final score indicated as Augustana barely outshot the Prairie Fire, 11-9 overall and 5-4 on goal.
• The Knox offense could not get a shot on goal in the opening half, but managed four after the intermission, including its first in the 46th minute off the foot of junior Emmanuel Mariano from about 27 yards out.
• The Prairie Fire's best scoring opportunity came in the 74th minute when junior Juan Perez Mejia fired off a shot that banged off the left post, and sophomore Kestervens Dera's rebound blast was saved by the Vikings' keeper, Ignacio Aberola.

Knox will play its sixth consecutive road game to start the season on Saturday at Buxton Stadium, home of Simpson College (2-2). The contest will begin at 3:30 p.m. with live video and stats of the contest accessible through the official athletics website of Knox College, PrairieFire.Knox.edu.