GALESBURG, Ill. — After playing visiting Lawrence University to a scoreless draw through the first half, the offense for the Knox College men's soccer team exploded for four goals over the final 45 minutes to send the Prairie Fire to a 4-0 Midwest Conference victory over the Vikings (0-9-4, 0-5-1 MWC) at Jorge Prats Field on Saturday afternoon. Junior Tomás Ramos scored the first two goals and assisted on the other two to supply more than enough offense for Knox (7-4-4, 3-3-1 MWC).

While the first half did not feature any scoring, the Prairie Fire were in control throughout the stanza, attempting 10 shots (though only one was on goal) while keeping Lawrence from getting off even a single shot.

Seven minutes into the second half, Knox broke through by quickly pushing the ball up the field from its own box. Senior Arito Nakamichi passed off to junior Kestervens Dera, who met little resistance as he dribbled up the field and connected with Ramos in the right side of the box. Ramos fired his shot essentially through the Viking keeper, who was able to slow the ball, but not enough to keep it from crossing into the goal.

With 16 minutes to play and the score still 1-0, first-year Sander Braathen sent a cross toward the center of the box, where the Lawrence keeper dove to intercept it. But he could not control the ball as he dove, and it squirted free to Ramos, who easily put it into the back of the net for his second goal.

Less than three minutes later, Ramos sent a corner kick to the far side of the goal, and sophomore Ethan Thomas headed it just inside the post for a 3-0 lead. And with 7:40 remaining in the game, the duo teamed up on another corner kick, this time with Thomas heading the ball from in front of the goal to just inside the near post.

"It's good to get back in the win column," Knox Head Coach Tyler Sheikh said after the game. "We worked the ball well in the first half, but we had to keep going for the goals to finally come. We hope we have everything to play for against Grinnell."

• Sheikh referred to his team's next and last game of the regular season as a win over Grinnell would give the Prairie Fire a great chance at qualifying for the conference tournament.
• Knox is currently tied for fourth in the standings with Cornell College (each have 10 points), and the top four teams in the final standings advance to the tournament, which will be hosted by Lake Forest College as the regular-season champion.
• The four goals are the most for the Prairie Fire since a 5-2 win over Monmouth nearly a full year ago (Oct. 23, 2004).
• Sophomore keeper Diogo Pereira was credited with his fifth shutout of the season, without having to face a single shot in this one.

As noted above, Knox will host Grinnell (4-6-5, 3-1-2 MWC) for its final game of the regular season in two weeks on Saturday, Nov. 1 at 1 p.m. The Pioneers still have a showdown with undefeated Lake Forest on their docket next Saturday. The contest against Grinnell will be streamed live through the Knox portal on Hudl — watchmidwestsports.com/knox — with live stats also available on the official website of Knox College Athletics, PrairieFire.Knox.edu.