The Kent State soccer team struggled at home after coming off a 2-1 victory over UMass Thursday.
The Flashes suffered a 1-0 shutout loss to the Buffalo Bulls Sunday, as the team once again struggled to generate offense. This puts the Flashes at 4-4-3 (2-2) on the season.
“I think we were all not as good as we needed to be, so I don’t think anyone would say they performed well today,” coach Rob Marinaro said. “Starting with me.”
The breakdown
The first half of the game remained even for both teams, as neither team could find the net. The Flashes struggled to create any offense due to both teams playing physical defense, ensuring a low-scoring game early on.
“We did not do well with our offense,” Marinaro said. “We were not dynamic with our runs, and the quality of our passes was not there either.”
In the second half of play, the Flashes kept up the pressure against the Bulls. However, in the 46th minute, graduate student forward Jasmine Guerber nailed a shot in the low right corner off of a great pass from sophomore forward Carolyn Hinkle. This score broke the tie, putting the Bulls up 1-0 on the Flashes.
The Flashes kept up the solid defense to keep the Bulls away from the net.
“We pushed more numbers forward after we gave up a goal,” Marinaro said. “It did not go well and I have to take responsibility as
a coach.”
The Flashes failed to take advantage of the few scoring opportunities available and went the distance without finding the net. It was the team’s second shutout loss of the season, the first coming against Louisville on Sept. 4.
The stats remained fairly even, but Buffalo held the slight upper hand. The Bulls had eight shots while KSU had four. Five of those were on goal for the Bulls, while only three were on goal for the Flashes.
“We were not dynamic with our runs and the quality of our passes were not there either,” Marinaro said. “Defensively, Abby Breitschuh gave us quality today.”
There were quite a few fouls within play. The Flashes had ten while the Bulls had 16. In the 39th minute the Flashes received the first and only yellow card of the match.
Junior goalie Leah Shaffer had four saves on the night and only allowed one goal.
Up next
The Flashes will remain at Zoeller Field for their final game of the three-game home stretch. The Flashes will take on Eastern Michigan Thursday at 7 p.m. Eastern Michigan is 4-5-1 (2-1-1) on the season. They most recently tied 1-1 with Ohio University on Sunday.
“We have to keep working on finding ourselves in better scoring opportunities,” Marinaro said. “I have to give them better pictures of that in this week’s practice.”
Emily Bezjak is a reporter. Contact her at [email protected].
