Saturday’s anticipated first meeting since Cornell and Knox battled in last year’s Midwest Conference men’s soccer championship match went in favor of the Prairie Fire, 4-2, at Jorge Prats Field.
Knox, the defending MWC champion and preseason favorite, capitalized on a three-goal, three-minute scoring spree in the first half and then held off Cornell’s comeback bid in the MWC opener for both 2022 title contenders.
The Rams dug themselves a 4-0 hole in the opening half. Cornell got two goals back in the second half with strikes from Aidan Lerch in the 51st minute and Cian McNamara in the 58th minute, pulling the Rams within 4-2.
Knox (2-7, 1-0) was able to stop Cornell’s rally over the final 32 scoreless minutes of regulation.
The Prairie Fire started the scoring at the 20-minute mark. Knox was then aided by an own goal 25 seconds later, pushing the home team ahead 2-0. The Prairie Fire scored twice more before the break to claim a commanding 4-0 halftime lead.
Knox fired 14 of its 17 total shots in the first half. Five of Cornell’s six attempts came after intermission. Emerson Roy led the Rams’ attack with two shots.
Cornell’s Will Bickel posted six saves while working the full 90 minutes at goalkeeper.
Earlier in the week, the Rams took a 4-2 victory over Coe, taking another win in the Bremner Cup serirs.
Senior Blake Soto scored twice and George Archer assisted on two goals as the Rams recorded their fourth consecutive series win over Coe, and seventh victory in the last eight meetings of the rivalry.
This match started with a flurry of goals from both sides early and was 2-2 only six minutes in. Coe’s second score at 5:59 also proved to be its last as the Rams settled in defensively.
Soto netted the go-ahead goal off an assist from Archer in the 47th minute, giving the Rams a 3-2 lead. Zach Miller added another score at the 49-minute mark for the final margin of victory.
Soto set the tone with a quick strike from Miller only 95 seconds into the match. After the Kohawks (1-6-1) answered, sophomore Aidan Lerch pushed the Rams back in front, 2-1, on an assist from Archer in the fourth minute.
Cornell goalkeeper Will Bickel went the entire distance and collected a pair of saves.
The Rams finished with 13 shot attempts, coming from nine different players. Miller, Soto, Archer and Lerch had two shots apiece.