After alternating wins and losses through the first four games of the season, the Kent State women’s lacrosse team will once again look to pull themselves to above .500 when it takes on Bucknell Wednesday. 

The Flashes entered the home opener against Presbyterian (0-2) with a 1-1 record, and though the game was moved to rival territory at Stile Fieldhouse in Akron due to weather, the team picked up a second win with a dominant 15-5 victory over the Blue Hose Thursday.

Kent State surrendered a goal in the opening minute but quickly responded to knot the game at 1-1 before taking a 2-1 lead later in the first quarter.

The Flashes took a 3-2 lead into the second quarter then imposed their will on Presbyterian over the next two-and-a-half quarters, outscoring the Blue Hose 11-1 in that stretch to take a 14-3 lead in the fourth quarter, putting the game well out of reach before Presbyterian found the net again.

“I think [the first quarter] was a feeling-out period, and then they got comfortable and settled in, and it took off from there,” coach Brianna Tierney said.

For the second time this season, junior attacker Lizzie Lundeen poured in five goals, accounting for a quarter of the game’s goals.

“She was reading her defender really well. It was a whole attacking effort because she doesn’t get open for those shots unless everybody is working that defense, moving together and doing the things that they need to do,” Tierney said. “She’s a good target inside and a great shooter. We want her to get the ball at the end, but working for that for 30, 40, 50 seconds is what we’ve been working on all preseason.”

The defense played its best game of the young season, allowing Presbyterian to only have 11 shots on goal on 18 total shots, both well below the national average.

“They were reading them well. They were crashing to any one-on-one drives really well. They were getting knockdowns inside and interceptions that we’ve been working on in our zone defense. I think one of the bigger parts of that game was when they were clearing the ball, we were riding and doubling through the midfield really well and our goalie, Sydney Davis, played really great that game,” Tierney said.

Davis recorded an early season high in save percentage with a save rate of 54.5%.

Despite the impressive performance against the Blue Hose, Kent State was unable to get the homestand sweep, falling to the Cincinnati Bearcats (2-3) Sunday, 15-4.

The Flashes were able to score first, and were only down 2-1 entering the second quarter, but much like they did to Presbyterian, the Bearcats did to them, outscoring Kent 13-2 from the start of the second quarter until the middle of the fourth quarter.

“Clearing the ball against them was the biggest hurdle. They have a great ride and they pull out their goalie and cover somebody in their ride, so getting the ball up the field is fairly difficult,” Tierney said.

The Flashes recorded a season-low in shots with 12, shots on goal with nine and goals with four. 

“We were pretty stagnant offensively. We sat around and watched the ball, which made defense for them pretty easy,” Tierney said. “As much as it was a group when we won against Presbyterian, it was the opposite effect against Cincinnati. We didn’t do a great job moving the ball or moving our people off the ball or working the defense before trying to penetrate their zone.” 

Kent State will play its third road game of the season Tuesday against the Bucknell Bison (1-2).

Statistically, the Flashes have the advantage offensively and defensively. They score 9.5 goals per game, while the Bison score eight goals per game, and the Flashes give up 10.5 goals per game compared to the Bison’s 12 goals per game.

Though the Flashes have a statistical advantage, the game will be the third for Bucknell in eight days, while Kent State will be playing its second in three days and third in just six days. Tierney cited fatigue as a reason for the second-half collapse against George Washington back on Feb. 9, when her squad played its second game in three days, but she will be implementing lessons learned from that weekend to combat the busy six-day stretch.

“I think what we learned that first weekend against George Mason and George Washington was how to manage [fatigue] better. One of the things we did against Presbyterian and Cincinnati was run midfield lines,” Tierney said. “Two midfielders were on and two midfielders were off all game, and we were getting either three or four midfield lines in to save those guys’ legs and we shut some kids down at practice [Tuesday] to try to keep them as fresh as possible going into tomorrow.” 

Demetri Manousos is a reporter. Contact him at [email protected].