Men's Soccer Falls to Knox 2-1 on Tuesday

by Nathan Baliva

MONMOUTH, Ill. (10/18/2023) — The Monmouth College men's soccer team lost the home finale on Tuesday afternoon with a 2-1 setback to Knox. The Scots are now 2-2-2 in Midwest Conference play with two games left on the schedule.

The first half was mostly back and forth with both teams finding chances to take the lead. Knox got a free kick just outside the box in the final minutes of the half. Goalkeeper Chris Zavala (New Lenox, Illinois) made a tremendous save on the free kick. However, the Prairie Fire were mysteriously given a re-do and they scored on the second attempt to take a 1-0 lead into halftime.

The Scots tied the game early in the second half. After winning a corner, the ball bounced around in the box before Ramon Aguilar (St. Louis, Missouri) got the final touch for his second goal of the season. However, Knox answered right off the kickoff, retaking the lead just seconds later. Monmouth fought back in the final 30 minutes but couldn't find the equalizer with one shot going just wide and a header going just over the bar.

MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Zavala made seven saves. Knox out-shot Monmouth 17-10. Zavala, Tanner Viren (East Moline, Illinois), Matthew Rhenals (Hollywood, Florida), Logan Corgan (Geneseo, Illinois), and Kristofer Ruiz-Camarena (El Paso, Texas) played all 90 minutes. Viren has played all 90 minutes in 34 straight appearances, dating back to early in the 2021 season. Tuesday was the final home game for the Scots with road games left at Ripon and Grinnell. Saturday's game at Ripon was changed this week to an 11:30 a.m. kickoff.