A hot and steamy Saturday afternoon at Jorge Prats Field cooked up the first victory of the season for the Knox College men's soccer team as junior Kestervens Dera provided a second-half goal and some stellar defensive play carried the Prairie Fire (1-1-2) to a 1-0 triumph over visiting Dominican University.

The first half was fairly evenly played with Knox holding a slim 3-2 advantage in shots, but only the Prairie Fire put any on net with the Stars turning away those two attempts.

After the intermission, both teams tried to quickly get the upper hand with Knox firing off two shots, off target, and Dominican putting its first attempt on goal, only to be thwarted by sophomore keeper Diogo Pereira. It looked like the Stars might finally get on the board in the 65th minute when a ball scooted past the last Prairie Fire defender, leaving a Dominican striker in the clear with the ball. But junior Ryudo Kawanami quickly recovered and stole the ball away, which led to a quick Knox counterattack.

Dera made the most of it, teaming up with junior Tomás Ramos on a give-and-go. Dera had his back to the goal in the box when the ball came back to him, and he quickly spun and fired off his shot, all in one motion, burying it in the lower right corner for his second goal of the season. 

The Stars' best opportunity to tie the game came with little more than nine minutes to play. But the shot on net was easily caught by Pereira for his second and final save of the contest.

"It was a very tactical NACC power versus Midwest Conference power matchup," Knox Head Coach Tyler Sheikh said after the game. "We both obviously battled the heat, but we suffered well. In the end, I am proud of our first shutout of the year. Our mettle will be tested further tomorrow."

• The shutout was the first of Pereira's career in five starts and Knox's first since a 3-0 win over Beloit on  Oct. 19.
• The victory avenged a 4-0 defeat at Dominican last year and is the Prairie Fire's first victory over the Stars in four meetings.
• Temperatures soared to as high as 95 degrees in Galesburg, leading to numerous water breaks for the players to try and remain hydrated.

After starting the season with consecutive home matches, Knox will play its next three on the road, beginning with a 4 p.m. tilt tomorrow afternoon at Wisconsin Lutheran College (1-4-1). The game will be streamed live with live stats available through the official website of Knox College Athletics, PrairieFire.Knox.edu.