In 2018, Kent State’s field hockey season came to an end with a 5-3 loss to Miami University in the Mid-American Conference Championship game. 

Preparing to play Miami for the first time since that loss, coach Kyle Desandes-Moyer said the team “talked all week about how it was just another MAC game.”

“We just had to approach it the way we approached all our other games,” she said. “We had to trust our training and what we’ve been doing in practice and all the preparations that have gone into it beforehand.” 

Just like every MAC game the team has played this season, the Flashes won. Beating Miami 3-2, Kent won it’s fourth game in a row and remains undefeated in the MAC. 

“I think we’re feeling really good,” Desandes-Moyer said. “The message is ‘we can enjoy it and then tomorrow morning we have to come back to work.’” 

Kent State was outshot throughout, with only five shots on goal compared to Miami’s 13. 

“I think our team mentally came into this game,” Desandes-Moyer said. “They knew they were going to win and they weren’t going to let anything stop that.” 

Goalkeeping duties were split between junior Azure Fernsler and senior Mary Crumlish. Fernsler had four saves and Crumlish had seven.

“We’re really blessed,” Desandes-Moyer said about the two goalkeepers.  

Fernsler was named MAC player of the week for the week of Oct. 8 with 54 saves and a .771 save percentage. Crumlish earned all MAC first team honors last season and has 18 saves and a .720 save percentage this season so far.

Miami scored in the 24th minute, putting Kent behind 1-0. This is the first game all season Kent has come back to win after falling behind. 

“We just didn’t want to dwell on it,” Crumlish said. “We knew Miami is a great team, but we knew we’re a good team too. We knew we could come back and we wanted it.”  

Kent State travels to Michigan next Friday to play Central Michigan University. 

“We’re just taking it game by game,” Crumlish said. “We want to celebrate this win, but we want to focus on our next MAC game on Friday too.”

Contact Gina Butkovich at [email protected].