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Knox College

Galesburg, IL 614014999
Illinois Midwest
Private Small Developing team
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Coaches

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Annie Gerdes

Annie Gerdes returned to Knox in the summer of 2023 to lead the Prairie Fire women's soccer program. She previously served as an assistant coach in the program from 2019-2022.


Gerdes joined the women's soccer staff in the summer of 2019 after her career as a goalkeeper for the Prairie Fire. Gerdes played on the '16, '17, and '18 MWC championship teams and assisted in leading the 2019 and 2021 teams to MWC Titles.


In her time as an assistant coach, Gerdes helped coach the women's soccer team to their fourth and fifth straight Midwest Conference Regular Season Championships. She also coached goalkeepers for the men's team.


Gerdes was a member of the 2016 women's soccer team that was inducted into the Knox-Lombard Athletic Hall of Fame in 2022. That team kicked off a run of five dominant years by the program.


In 2022, Gerdes served as a Youth Camp Coach for the Chicago Red Stars and a Youth Head Coach for the Galaxy Soccer Club in Naperville.


During COVID, Gerdes stepped up as the Men's Goalkeeper Coach and was promoted officially by Coach O'Connor in May of 2020. Gerdes was also named Associate Sports Information Director in October 2020 after a year as the Assistant Sports Information Director.


Gerdes was a three-year Prairie Fire athlete. She was a member of the 3-time MWC Championship team and made two appearances in the NCAA Championship tournament.


Gerdes works with a non-profit organization outside of Knox College called ForeverU. ForeverU is a youth development organization that empowers youth to overcome adversity.


Gerdes earned her B.S. in Psychology from Knox in June of 2019. She earned her M.S. in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from Adler University in June of 2023. Gerdes also earned her NSCAA Goalkeeper 1 Diploma, United Soccer Coaches Sports Psychology and Individual Mental Skills Diploma, and USSF 11v11 Grassroots License. She is also a nationally certified counselor.

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Brooklyn Deming

Brooklyn Deming returned to Knox in the summer of 2023 to assist the Prairie Fire women's soccer program.


Deming graduated from Knox with a B.A in Psychology and Secondary Education in 2022. During their career as a full back for the Prairie Fire, Deming played on the '17, '18, ‘19, and ‘21 MWC championship teams.


In 2018 and 2019 Deming also played for Chicago City’s WPSL team and U23 team. Along with playing, Deming served as a Youth Camp Coach for Chicago City.


Deming was a five-year Prairie Fire athlete. They were a member of the 4-time MWC Championship team and made two appearances in the NCAA Championship tournament. During their career they earned the Hard Hat Award in 2017, Jeff Sandburg Mental Toughness Award in 2019, served as a captain, were a member of the leadership team, and were selected for the 2018 All-Conference Team.

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Kevwe Akpore

Kevwe Akpore, formerly assistant men’s soccer coach at Knox, was named head men’s soccer coach in August of 2022.


Coach Akpore is no stranger to the Prairie Fire soccer program, and has been a leader in the Galesburg soccer community for more than three decades. He has at different times in the last 30 years been named as assistant coach and head coach for the women's program, and head coach for the men's program.


Coach Akpore rejoined the Prairie Fire athletics coaching staff months after a very successful and historic year as head men’s soccer coach at Carl Sandburg College, where he left with a school-record 34 victories in four years of leading the program. In the 2021 season, Sandburg won a school-record 16 games; 16-5 overall, and ended the season ranked No. 12 in the country, appearing in the national rankings each week. The Chargers also ranked as high as 7th nationally, won the first-ever Arrowhead Conference Men's Soccer Championship in the program's history, won the first NJCAA Region title in the program's history, and assured the program's first appearance at the NJCAA Division II Men's Soccer Championship. Coach Akpore was named NJCAA Region IV Coach of the Year for the 2021-2022 season.


While at Sandburg, Coach Akpore was an adjunct professor of law enforcement. He is a retired U.S. Army veteran with multiple tours of duty in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and more, and is a retired executive with the State of Illinois corrections system.


Coach Akpore holds a B.A. with two minors, in military science, and industrial technology. He also holds a postgraduate diploma in police executive administration, a masters degree in manufacturing engineering, and a masters degree in public safety.

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Victor Dantas

A native of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, Dantas came to the USA in 2015. He graduated from Carl Sandburg College in 2018 with his associate in arts, then transferred to Western Illinois University to get a bachelor’s in Supply Chain Management in 2020.


Dantas also owns Galesburg Soccer Exchange, which is a soccer academy for internationals seeking to learn English and play soccer in the USA.


Dantas joined the Sandburg coaching staff in 2018, and along with coach Akpore, quickly developed Sandburg into one of the top NJCAA programs in the country; winning the first region title in program history, the first-ever Arrowhead Conference men’s soccer championship, and made its first appearance at the NJCAA Division II Men’s Soccer Championship. In 2021, Dantas was promoted to head soccer coach.


In 2023, Dantas joined the Prairie Fire with hopes to contribute to the continued success of the soccer program.

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