For the first time this season, Kent State women’s lacrosse scored first in a game. Freshman Megan Kozar scored three minutes on a free position shot in the Flashes’ Sunday game against St. Bonaventure. 

The Bonnies answered a minute later with an unassisted goal by Destinee Johnson to tie the game at one before taking the lead five minutes later on a goal by Ashley Easterday. 

The Bonnies went on to win, 18-10.

“I think we had moments of playing like ourselves, we had moments of playing as a team,” said Kent State coach Brianne Tierney. “We had some good plays both defensively and offensively, but we’re still working on putting 60 minutes together.”

The Flashes’ defense struggled to keep up with St. Bonaventure in the first half, as the Bonnies ended up increasing their lead to 6-1. The Flashes’ offense broke out late in the first half with back-to-back goals from freshmen Graceyn Dean and Madison Rapier. Dean scored off an assist from Kozar before Rapier scored her first goal of the season. 

“I think (Kozar and Rapier), in particular, play outside of themselves,” Tierney said. “They really push the entire game almost to the detriment of their health and their bodies, and they really sell out for everything that they’re doing.”

Kozar started off the second half by scoring her second goal. Any momentum the Flashes had was snapped two minutes later when the Bonnies scored three goals in a two minute period. 

“I think together we all have gotten into a habit of starting slow a little bit and trying to feel out the game, and it’s been biting us a little bit,” Kozar said. “The past few games, the second half has been the kind of a chase… We just got to come out a little harder and be able to carry it through and that’ll help us a lot.”

Rapier led the Flashes with four goals while Kozar finished with three. 

The Flashes’ next game will be Friday, March 8 at 5 p.m. against the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. 

Amanda Levine is a sports reporter. Contact her at [email protected].