Hellstrom Scores Golden Goal to Lift Kent State to 3-2 OT Victory; WMU Suffers First MAC Loss of the Season

Friday, October 18

Kent, Ohio

4 pm

Kent State University

10-5-0, 5-2-0

Western Michigan University

7-4-3, 5-1-1

Team	1	2	OT 2	Final F
Western Michigan	1	1	0	2
Kent State	0	2	1	3

Photo by Lindsay Frumker

Photo by: Lindsay Frumker

Hellstrom Scores Golden Goal to Lift Kent State to 3-2 OT Victory; WMU Suffers First MAC Loss of the Season

10/18/2013 7:47:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

KENT, Ohio - Freshman Jenna Hellstrom scored just 1:22 into overtime to lead the Kent State Golden Flashes soccer team to a thrilling 3-2 victory over Western Michigan on Friday afternoon at Zoeller Field.

The win improves Kent State to 10-5 overall and 5-2 in Mid-American Conference play, while the loss was the first for the Broncos in the MAC to drop to 5-1-1 and 7-4-3 overall. Western Michigan was the only unbeaten team in the MAC, and was the first place squad in the West Division.

"Overall I didn't think we had a very good start to the game," said Head Coach Rob Marinaro. "I didn't feel that our first 65 minutes was the level that we can play at. But once we built some confidence and put a lot of pressure on Western Michigan it was probably the best 20-25 minutes of soccer we have played this year that resulted in a fantastic come-from-behind win."

Things were not looking good for the Golden Flashes today as the team found themselves down 2-0 early in the second period. The Broncos lit up the scoreboard in the 25^th minute after WMU's Rachel Chaney tallied her fourth goal of the 2013 season, and tacked on another in the 55^th minute when Gina Maddi posted her fifth goal of the year.

Western Michigan seemed to control a majority of the game, but the Flashes came back with a vengeance after a goal by senior defender Morgan Mah put in a corner kick in the 65^th minute to spark the KSU offense. Calli Rinicella and Abbie Lawson were credited with assists.

Then, just four minutes before the end of regulation, junior Stephanie Haugh evened the score after she knocked in a blocked shot to send the game into overtime.

After a short five-minute intermission, it only took 1:22 for Kent State to capture the win. Hellstrom put in a corner kick to tally her fourth goal of the year and earn the win for her team.

"We focus a lot on our set pieces, and there was a lot of individual sacrifices to keep the ball alive," added Marinaro. "We got a good service and were able to put the ball in to get the win."

Goalkeeper Stephanie Senn stopped six shots in 91:22 of play between the pipes, and WMU's Michelle Watson picked up three saves in the loss.

Kent State ended the afternoon with a 17-14 advantage in shots, and led 6-4 in corner kicks.

The Flashes are back in action at 1 p.m. on Sunday on Zoeller Field against Eastern Michigan. The Eagles are coming off a 3-0 victory at Ohio University today to improve to 8-6-1 and 5-2-0 in conference play.