One is good for win in OT, regular season title

The Prairie Fire men's soccer team outlasted St. Norbert College 1-0 in overtime Saturday at Jorge Prats Field and made history, winning its first regular season conference championship since the inauguration of the conference tournament more than 30 years ago.

Knox won the Midwest Conference regular season championship with the victory, combined with Carroll University's 4-3 loss against Illinois College. The Prairie Fire will be the top seed and host the 2014 Midwest Conference Men's Soccer tournament on November 7 and 8. Knox last won a conference title in men's soccer in 1988, the year before the MWC tournament began.

The Prairie Fire and St. Norbert (9-4-3, 3-2-3 MWC) battled through regulation and the first overtime deadlocked in a scoreless draw.

The second overtime had barely started when first-year Shu Kitamura (Hong Kong, IMG Academy) took a pass from junior Abdulsalam Oganla (Lagos, Nigeria, The International Academy) and kicked in the winning goal, his first of the season, to give Knox a school-record 12th straight victory. The score came at the 100:39 mark of the contest.

The Prairie Fire (13-2, 8-0 MWC) also ended a long drought against the Green Knights, winning for the first time since September of 2000.

Senior goalie Sean Dockrell (Dublin, Ireland, San Bernadino CC) had three saves and recorded his fifth straight shutout and ninth overall this season, which leads the Midwest Conference.

Knox hosts Illinois College in the regular season home finale and Senior Day on Wednesday, Oct. 29 at 1:30 p.m. The Blueboys (9-5-2, 5-2-1 MWC) have 16 conference points and are tied for third in the team standings with Carroll and Monmouth College, one point behind second place Lake Forest College.

Knox came into the game with a "roudy" celebration -- as one UK fan on campus put it -- of International Soccer Day. Teams were greeted by President Teresa Amott and students holding flags of nations represented in the student body. Students from International Club set up a face painting booth, and pizzas were awarded to the loudest fans.