With victories on Saturday, October 21, the Knox College women's and men's soccer teams secured spots in the upcoming Midwest Conference tournaments. Both Prairie Fire squads defeated the Cornell Rams by identical scores of 2-0.

This will be the fifth consecutive tournament appearance for the men and the third consecutive tournament appearance for the women. Both Knox teams continued their winning ways on Monday, when the women defeated Illinois College, 2-0, and the men outlasted Lake Forest, 1-0.

Here's more on the Saturday games that put both teams in the tournament.

Knox Men's Soccer

The Prairie Fire held the Rams scoreless and were able to lay in two goals of their own. After Saturday's match, the Prairie Fire had a 7-0 conference record and were tied with St. Norbert College for first place.

Early in the first half, sophomore Nick Janulis headed in the Fire's first goal from a corner kick assisted by senior Lucas Sanchez. Knox got several good looks at the goal for a total of 12 shots in the first half. 

The Fire came into the second half still in attack mode, with Janulis heading in his and the team's second goal in the 53rd minute mark from a cross by Raleigh Berry.

Knox and Cornell both brought aggression into the game; four players overall received cautions and the Rams goalie received an ejection on a pass back play. The Fire, however, were able to bring a little more intensity and pull away with another win.

"We started out brightly and got the first goal and things relaxed a bit from there," said Head Coach Tyler Sheikh. "It was definitely an odd game...not a pretty one, but a 2-0 win on Senior Day to set up a very big week for us is what we wanted. The guys will be raring to go."

Knox Women's Soccer

With Saturday's victory, the Prairie Fire tied for first place (6-0-1) in the conference with St. Norbert College.

Near the 12th minute mark, senior forward Kayla Brown glided in a penalty kick goal, tying the record for the second all-time leading goal scorer in Knox history with a total of 49 goals.

Knox kept up the intensity, scoring within the first 12 minutes of the second half. Jessica Peterson headed in the Fire's second goal assisted by Rosie Medina's corner kick. Knox played a solid game on both ends of the field as they managed to hold Cornell to zero overall shot attempts for the game versus their 16.