The Kent State Soccer team entered Thursday’s game against Youngstown State with a record of 1-1-1, the team exited with its best offensive performance so far with a 5-1 victory.
After several close games to start the year, the Flashes put it all together for a balanced effort against the Penguins. KSU controlled the tempo for the majority of the game with a high amount of shots and kept the net clean for the most part.
“Player’s had some opportunities yesterday and they made the most of it, so it was nice to see our depth come through and really produce for us,” coach Rob Marinaro said.
Sophomore defender Allison Collins was also named Mid-American Conference Defensive Player of the Week for her late game heroics against Northwestern. She scored the game-tying goal to force a draw for the Flashes, and it was also her first goal of the season. Collins took the shot from well beyond the box and nailed it in the right corner.
“Allison works very hard,” Marinaro said. “She’s one of our players that’s really developing into a very solid core unit. I do think it was a great team effort defensively, especially against Northwestern, but anytime you see your players get recognized it’s always nice to see.”
The Penguins entered the game against the Flashes 1-3. YSU previously beat St. Bonaventure 3-0 to get its first win of the season. The Flashes are 12-1-1 all-time against the Penguins. With the win the Flashes improve to 2-1-1 on the season.
The breakdown
KSU crushed The Penguins with a score of 5-1. The Flashes kept pouring on the offense with 19 shots and 14 on goal while The Penguins only had eight shots and three on goal. It was the first time since 2021 that KSU scored 5 goals in a game.
The Flashes also had nine corner kicks compared to YSU only having one. Kent State did have
quite a few fouls with 18 compared to YSU having 12. The Flashes also had nine corner kicks compared to the Penguins’ one.
“We built moments offensively as the game went on,” Marinaro said. “It was great to see the scoring amongst many players. We looked very sharp on our finishing, so a good improvement from prior games.”
Despite what the final score would indicate, the Flashes initially stumbled out of the gate, as the team fell behind 1-0.
“I thought last night was a bit of a slow start,” Marinaro said. “We didn’t take control of the game until a little bit later on, but we had a great response after they scored, and then we started to pick it up from there and played some real nice soccer.”
The Penguins got on the board quickly and scored off the crossbar within the first 10 minutes. However, the Flashes answered back and scored shortly after.
A pass from junior midfielder Samantha Miller connected with senior defender Abby Breitschuh who netted the Flashes first goal of the game. 10 minutes later, senior defender Kelsey Salopek gave the Flashes the lead with an assist from Jules Dolinski.
The second half is when the Flashes truly started to pick up the pace and put pressure on YSU.
Shortly after the break, sophomore forward Addy Cusick scored to give the Flashes a two-goal lead. At the 72 and 75 minute mark, the final goals were scored by freshman forwards Mia Cleroux and Isabelle Leofanti to put the game out of reach.
“We made some adjustments in how we were trying to play out of the back, just to give them a lot of different looks because they were coming with a very high press,” Marinaro said. “I thought the team did very well once we figured it out, got established in the bold movement and got better as the game went on.”
Up next
The Flashes will embark on a five game road trip, beginning with a game against Cornell at 5 p.m. Sunday. Cornell has a record of 2-0-1 and averages around 10 shots per game. Cornell is coming off a win against Colgate earlier in the week.
“Sunday is going to have different types of challenges, such as can the team adapt and make better and faster decisions,” Marinaro said.
Emily Bezjak is a reporter. Contact her at [email protected].
