By: After scrapping and clawing to a 1-1 tie after 45 minutes, the Blueboys gave up three goals in the second half and lost to the Prairie Fire, 4-1.
Box Score
GALESBURG, Ill. – Facing one of the top teams in the Midwest Conference, the Illinois College men's soccer team hung tough for a half, but Knox College scored three times in the second half and earned a 4-1 victory on Wednesday afternoon.
After threatening throughout much of the early minutes of the game, Knox finally broke through with the opening goal with exactly 16 minutes remaining in the first half of play after drawing a penalty in the box. Jake Ly stepped up and had
Ty Clearwater guessing the wrong way as the Prairie Fire took a 1-0 lead.
Illinois College showed its resilience before the first half was over. Given a chance to counter-attack, the Blueboys drew a foul in the Knox attacking third and
Justin Hill slotted a free kick to the upper left corner to give Prairie Fire keeper Justin Dunn absolutely no chance. The match would go to the break tied at 1-1.
Knox threatened immediately after the break with a header that zipped just high of the crossbar. Four minutes later, center-back Erick Karkut made a run through the IC defense and then curled a shot just inside the post to give the Prairie Fire the lead back in the 52nd minute.
In the 68th minute, Ly snagged his second goal of the match, heading home on a ball that was crossed in from the right wing. Late in the match, Clearwater collided with a Knox player in the box and the Prairie Fire were awarded a free kick, which Karkut scored for the final margin.
Illinois College returns to England Stadium next week for a non-conference match with Millikin University. The Blueboys and Big Blue play under the lights on Oct. 12 beginning at 7 p.m.
