Kent State women’s field hockey clinched the Mid-American Conference regular season championship on Friday with a 3-0 win over Appalachian State University. 

Two of the Flashes’ three goals came in the second period both off of penalty corners and were scored by junior forward Hailie Balachick and freshman back Maria Cambra Soler.

“I have to tip my cap to freshman Maria Cambra [Soler],”  coach Kyle Desandes-Moyer said. “She just executed when we called the corner and she just had really great execution.”

Kent’s third goal was scored in the third period by junior back/midfielder Clara Rodriguez Seto.

“I couldn’t be more proud of our team and we are going to be the number one seed in the MAC tournament, so this was a pretty big win for us,” Desandes-Moyer said.

The Flashes took an impressive 17 total shots and converted on two of six penalty corner opportunities.

“This was probably our best game of the season,” Desandes-Moyer said. “We had fantastic ball movement, pace and we played at a high level.”

Defensively, Kent held Appalachian State to just two shots in the first half and eight shots overall. Flashes junior goalie Azure Fernsler recorded six saves on the afternoon.

“I think we just really trust each other and had each others backs,” Desandes-Moyer said. “Our communication level was really high. We played Kent State field hockey and we played really good defense from our forwards all the way to our backline.”

On Sunday, Kent State lost 4-0 at home against Ohio State University (8-0). 

The Flashes’ offense struggled, only taking six total shots. Three were taken by junior Seto.

“Offensively, we had our opportunities and didn’t execute on those,” Desandes-Moyer said. “We knew Ohio State was a strong team and we talked about executing on our offensive chances and we didn’t do that.”

Kent only had three penalty corner opportunities compared to Ohio State’s eight opportunities, one of which resulted in a goal.

“Losing is disappointing but we are always excited to play a strong ranked team like Ohio State and get better before we go into MAC play,” Desandes-Moyer said.

Ohio State’s four goals were scored in the first, second and third period by freshman midfielder Mackenzie Allessie , sophomore forward Katie Pyle, senior midfielder Esther Clotet Alsina, and freshman midfielder Mackenzie Allessie.

“I don’t think we necessarily struggled defensively,”  Desandes-Moyer said. “I just think Ohio State executed on their opportunities and our mentality wasn’t strong enough.”

Defensively, the Flashes allowed 18 shots overall and senior goalie Mary Crumlish had seven saves on the afternoon.

“I thought our first two quarters were actually quite strong, we were able to implement our game plan and were able to make some changes on the fly which was good as well,” Desandes-Moyer said. “We need to improve upon our opportunities in the circle and our attacking 25 and just capitalizing when we have them.”

Kent will look to rebound as they close out the regular season and Mid American Conference play on senior day at home on Saturday at noon against Longwood University (7-9).

Contact Kathryn Rajnicek [email protected]