Kent State University women’s field hockey (6-5) shutout Ball State University (3-8) by a score of 1-0 on the road Friday for their second Mid-American Conference win and to remain undefeated in MAC play.

“It was awesome to be able to win on the road and I think Ball State really stepped up and was able to adjust to our style of play, so it was a good battle for us,” coach Kyle Desandes-Moyer said.

The Flashes got off to a hot offensive start scoring the game’s first and only goal less than one minute into play. 

“We came out hot and one thing we talked about before the game was just having a really strong start because we weren’t able to do that against Ohio (University),” said Desandes-Moyer.

The lone goal was scored by freshman forward Claudia Ortiz, her fourth of the season. 

Kent was able to keep the ball on their offensive side of the field for the majority of the first half.

“I thought defensively we played a really tight game,” Desandes-Moyer said. “We talked a lot about discipline defense.”

Defensively, the Flashes allowed six shots on goal and junior goalkeeper Azure Fernsler recorded six saves.

“Up until those last couple minutes we gave up no defensive penalty corners and we were happy with that,” Desandes-Moyer said. “The biggest thing with Azure (Fernsler) having an impact was that she was able to keep our defense composed and that was so important in those last few minutes when Ball State was putting on the pressure.”

During the fourth period, Kent gave Ball State six penalty corner opportunities, but the Flashes were able pull out important defensive stops.

“We just have to continue to play our Kent State field hockey game which is passing and being a strong passing team which we kind of fell away from today and that is something we will be looking for on Sunday,” Desandes-Moyer said.

The Flashes’ look to continue their winning streak on Sunday at 12 p.m. against Indiana University (4-6) on the road.

Contact Kathryn Rajnicek at [email protected].