Knox and Monmouth Turn Everything On This Week: Soccer, Volleyball and Cross Country All Open
The football teams have been playing for a week. Everything else at Knox and Monmouth starts now.
Between Tuesday and Saturday, both colleges open soccer, volleyball and cross country — and Monmouth’s women’s tennis team has already started. Here is the whole week.
This week
| Day | Event | Site |
|---|---|---|
| Tue Sept 1 | Knox men’s soccer vs. Concordia-Wisconsin, 4:00 | Galesburg |
| Tue Sept 1 | Knox women’s soccer vs. Millikin, 7:00 | Galesburg |
| Tue Sept 1 | Monmouth volleyball at Loras, 7:00 | Dubuque |
| Thu Sept 3 | Monmouth men’s soccer at Blackburn, 2:00 | Carlinville |
| Fri Sept 4 | Monmouth women’s soccer vs. Lakeland, 5:00 | Monmouth |
| Fri Sept 4 | Monmouth football vs. No. 9 Wartburg, 7:00 | Monmouth |
| Fri Sept 4-5 | Knox volleyball, Concordia-Chicago Quad | River Forest |
| Sat Sept 5 | Knox & Monmouth cross country, Bob Schultz Invite | Dubuque |
| Sat Sept 5 | Knox football at Eureka, 6:00 | Eureka |
Three things worth knowing
Knox is adding women’s flag football
Announced in January, the same day the NCAA designated flag football an emerging sport for women. It runs as a club this fall, competes in spring 2027, and becomes a full varsity program in 2027-28. Akyia Baker is the head coach, and the programme is funded by an anonymous donor.
Knox joins Midwest Conference peers Illinois College, Beloit, Ripon and Cornell. Athletic director Justin Newell framed it around gender equity and measured expansion.
This is a national storyline happening in Galesburg, and it is worth watching from the start rather than from the first varsity season.
Knox women’s basketball has a new coach and a returning scorer
Emily Carpenter arrives from UW-Superior, where she won a UMAC title and took the Yellowjackets to their first NCAA Tournament since 2018. She inherits a Knox team coming off a 19-win season with leading scorer Bria Medina (18.2 points per game) back.
That is the most promising situation in either athletic department right now, and the season opens November 6 at home against Elmhurst — the first college basketball game of the year in the area.
Monmouth has two programs Knox does not
Swimming and diving (Jake Dacus) and tennis (Brian Dahlstrom). Monmouth fields 18 varsity sports to Knox’s 15.
Women’s tennis opened at home against Central College on August 29. Nobody local covers either programme. We intend to.
Dates to circle this autumn
- Sept 12-13 — Fighting Scot Invitational golf, Gibson Woods, Monmouth
- Oct 10, noon — Knox at Monmouth volleyball
- Oct 24 — Knox hosts Monmouth in a men’s and women’s soccer doubleheader
- Oct 24-25 — Prairie Fire Classic golf, Soangetaha Country Club, Galesburg
- Nov 14, noon — the Bronze Turkey, Knosher Bowl
The rivalry is not only a football fixture. Knox and Monmouth meet in volleyball, soccer and basketball too, and those games get almost no attention.
One name for the trophy cabinet
Todd Monken quarterbacked Knox College from 1986 to 1988. He was a Division III All-American as a senior and still holds the school record with 23 touchdown passes in a season.
In January he was named head coach of the Cleveland Browns.
And he is not the only Knox man in that building. John Wozniak, Knox class of 1999, is the Browns’ assistant wide receivers coach — and he spent five years coaching at Knox in Galesburg, from 1999 to 2003, running the offense for four of them.
Two Knox College graduates, on the same NFL coaching staff, in Cleveland.
Schedules from the Knox and Monmouth athletics departments and the Midwest Conference, and subject to change. Have a college result or roster to share? Send it in.
