CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — A pair of first-half goals held up for the Knox College men's soccer team as it fended off host Coe College on Wednesday evening for a 2-1 victory. The Prairie Fire (3-1-2) enjoyed a 17-9 shot advantage, 11-2 on goal, in handing the Kohawks (2-2-3) their second defeat of the season.
"This was another battle for our guys to take lessons from," said Tyler Sheikh, the Knox head coach. "Playing midweek games on the road are never easy, so coming back with a win should give us a bounce heading into the weekend."
It didn't take long for Knox to take the lead, scoring barely six minutes into the contest. Sophomore Thomas Sánchez Madden took a corner kick, and the ball ended up coming back around to him from junior Apostolos Karamperis, allowing him to fire the ball in front of the goal, where sophomore Ethan Thomas deflected it past the keeper for the 1-0 lead.
In the 35th minute, the Prairie Fire took advantage of a Coe mistake off a goal kick that glanced off a Kohawk running down the field and went directly to Knox's Sasha Esper. The senior dribbled to the right of the box and sent a beautiful cross to the other side of the goal to senior Arito Nakamichi, who easily put his shot past the keeper for a 2-0 lead.
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| Great teamwork on both goals! |
The Kohawks caught a break of their own in the second half when Marek Jesienouski stole the ball from a defender and slipped a shot into the net in the 58th minute. The Prairie Fire defense made sure that didn't happen again and allowed just two more shots, both off target, the rest of the game.
- Thomas' goal was his third of the season, tying junior Kestervens Dera for the team lead.
- Knox has not lost to Coe since the 2009 season, going 3-0-1 against the Kohakws over the past 15 years.
- The 3-1-2 start to the season is the best for the Prairie Fire since opening 4-2 in 2019.
The Prairie Fire will wrap up a three-game road trip on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. when they play at Blackburn College (4-3), which suffered a 1-0 loss today. The game will be streamed live with live stats available through PrairieFire.Knox.edu, the official website of Knox College Athletics, courtesy of Blackburn.
