Kent State lacrosse beat Youngstown State 8-4 on Saturday to set their conference record at 1-2. The Flashes are 6-5 on the year, and have won two games in a row. Saturday’s win against the Penguins marked KSU’s first victory against a Mid-American Conference opponent.
Scoring Breakdown
In typical Flashes fashion, KSU scored almost all goals in the second half with three in the third quarter and four in the fourth. The lone first-half goal was scored by junior midfielder Eva Anderson in the first quarter after senior midfielder Meghan Haddow caused a turnover.
The Penguins had a slow offensive start as well, and the score was 2-1 at halftime with YSU leading.
About three minutes into the third quarter, senior midfielder Zayda Crumpton tied it with senior attacker Lizzie Lundeen recording the assist. KSU gained two more goals from Haddow and junior attacker Morgan Halli, but by the end of the third quarter, the score was tied at four.
In the fourth quarter, the Flashes’ defense didn’t budge, and neither did the offense as KSU scored four goals and allowed zero. Halli scored two in a row, Crumpton picked up her second and Lundeen scored with two seconds left to double the Flashes’ lead.
“Defensively, we did awesome,” coach Brianne Tierney said. “We got a bunch of knockdowns and caused turnovers, and that allowed us to have more opportunities offensively that we needed.”
Junior defenseman Allie Bradley, sophomore defensemen Amber Shinsky and Zucconi each had three ground balls while junior goalkeeper Sydney Davis recorded six saves.
Defensive performances lead to MAC recognition
Zucconi and Davis each received awards for their defensive performances in week seven. Zucconi was named MAC Defender of the Week, and Davis was named MAC Goalkeeper of the Week.
This is Zucconi’s third award this season and Davis’s fifth.
“Anna is just uniquely talented to the spot that she’s in in our defense,” Tierney said. “Her whole job is to get knock downs, and cause turnovers, and get ground balls, and she’s very, very good at those things. Sydney, when she gets hot, she gets really hot and it’s hard to score on her. She makes the saves when she really needs to and she’s tough to get around.”
Key Stats
Crumpton is leading the Flashes with 25 goals. Just below her are Lundeen and Halli with 19, respectively.
Crumpton also leads the team in assists (13), points (38), shots (92), shots on goal (56) and draw controls (26). This year’s campaign has seen a dominant start from Crumpton, as she has routinely found herself at the top of KSU’s statistical leaderboard week after week.
Second in assists are Lundeen and Halli with six each. Halli is also second in points with 22. Lundeen is second in both shots and shots on goal with 54 and 39, respectively. Zucconi leads the team in ground balls with 34, and Haddow is behind her with 27.
What’s Next
The Flashes have another week off before they face the Robert Morris Colonials on Saturday, 1 p.m. at Dix Stadium for another conference game and Senior Day.
“We got to win and learn from today,” Tierney said. “So I think that’s a great thing going into Robert Morris.”
Audrey McCarthy is a reporter. Contact her at [email protected].