The Kent State lacrosse team had a week to forget, losing both of its games by a combined score of 31-12.
The Flashes played at Akron (8-6, 3-1) Sunday, falling to their rivals by a score of 14-9.
Kent State found itself in a hole early, going down 3-0 in the first five minutes of the game. The Zips would tack on another goal with under 20 seconds remaining in the quarter to take a 4-0 lead into the second quarter.
The Flashes scored their first goal of the game just over two minutes into the second quarter, but neither team could score until late in the quarter.
It was Kent State that broke the nearly 11-minute-long scoring drought, scoring three goals in under a minute to tie the game at 4-4 at halftime.
The third quarter, however, started similarly to how the first quarter started, as Akron scored five goals in just over five minutes to take a 9-4 lead.
The Flashes would score two goals to answer but never cut the lead to less than three, eventually falling 14-9.
In its third straight road game, the team took a trip to play Louisville (7-8, 1-6) but was unable to pull the ACC upset.
The Cardinals struck quickly, scoring in under a minute, but the Flashes scored just a couple of minutes later to tie the game. However, the game was far out of reach before the Flashes would score again.
After allowing Kent State to tie the game, Louisville scored the quarter’s final two goals to take a 3-1 lead into the second quarter.
The Cardinals continued to grow their lead in the second quarter, scoring five goals in the period, while the Flashes were unable to find the net.
In the third quarter, Louisville scored another five goals before Kent State finally scored its second goal, but the Cardinals’ lead was still an insurmountable 13-2 entering the fourth quarter.
The Flashes scored one goal in the fourth quarter, but Louisville notched an additional four on its way to a dominant 17-3 victory.
Kent State sits at 6-8, with a record of 1-2 in the Mid-American Conference, landing the team at sixth place in the conference. The Flashes have three more conference games and must finish sixth or higher to make the conference tournament.
The April 26 senior day matchup against Youngstown State (5-7, 0-3) may turn into a regular-season elimination game, as it could determine which team finishes sixth to make the tournament and which team finishes last in the conference, missing the cut.
For now, the Flashes will take on Eastern Michigan (6-7, 2-2) at home Sunday at 1 p.m. before traveling to play at Robert Morris (4-9, 2-1) Saturday at noon.
Demetri Manousos is a reporter. Contact him at [email protected].
