GALESBURG, Ill. — The Knox College women's soccer team was unable to slow down visiting Illinois College on Tuesday afternoon at Jorge Prats Field as the Ladyblues left town with a 5-1 victory over the Prairie Fire. The win lifted Illinois College to 6-5-2 on the season and 2-0 in Midwest Conference play, while Knox fell to 3-6-1 overall and 0-2 in the league.
The first 20 minutes of the contest were played to a draw, but the Ladyblues scored a flurry of goals in a five-minute span to take a 3-0 lead. The Prairie Fire responded with the lone tally of the day in the 31st minute when first-year Sophia Gordoa took advantage of a long shot on goal that the Illinois College keeper could not secure and swiftly booted the ball into the back of the net.
But the second half belonged to the Ladyblues as they scored twice more, both on penalty kicks by Erin O'Connell, putting the game out of reach.
- Illinois College outshot the Prairie Fire, 15-4, with 10 of those 15 shots on goal compared to two for Knox.
- The Prairie First have lost four straight since a four-match unbeaten streak.
- Although Knox is just 0-2-2 in the last four meetings with the Ladyblues, it still owns a 22-12-4 record in the series dating back to 1992.
Next up for the Prairie Fire is a road match at Beloit College (1-7-2, 0-1-1 MWC) on Saturday, Oct. 4 at 1 p.m. Knox will be attempting to end a string of three straight 1-0 losses to the Buccaneers. The match will be streamed live with stats for the match available through PrairieFire.Knox.edu, the official website of Knox College Athletics, courtesy of Beloit.
