Kent State withstood a fierce offensive attack by Maryland and battled to a 1-1 draw Saturday at Ludwig Field in College Park, Maryland.

The Flashes scored on their first shot of the game when senior forward Kimberly Dimitroff netted her second of the year in the 58th minute of play. Her goal came off of a pass from junior Caitlin Hester.

Maryland would answer back later in the second half when senior co-captain Ashly Kennedy found a loose ball off of a free kick and punched it in for the goal. The goal came in the 76th minute of play.

Play remained tied for the rest of regulation, as well as in the two overtime periods. Two ten-minute overtime periods are played after regulation in the case of a tie.

Kent State was outshot 33-5 in the game, 17-0 in the first half, facing a Maryland attack that only got stronger as the game progressed. Maryland came close to winning it in overtime when a rebound off the crossbar came to Emily Maynard who hit the post in the 108th minute. The Flashes were unable to get a shot off in either of the two overtime periods.

Junior goalkeeper Kris Nelson came up huge in goal for the Flashes. Allowing only one shot past on nine shots on goal, Nelson registered her fifth game of the year of allowing one goal or less.

The Flashes record is now 2-4-1 on the year. Maryland’s three-game winning streak was snapped and now have a 4-1-2 record.

Kent State will return to action Friday when it travels to Ohio University to face the Bobcats. Ohio is 0-5-2 so far this season. The game is the first Mid-American Conference game for both schools this season, and game time is set for 4 p.m. in Athens.

Contact soccer reporter Chris Gates at [email protected].