Kent State University
Ohio
Flashes Ready for MAC Semis Matchup with Ohio
11/3/2021 10:49:00 AM | Women's Soccer
(KENT, Ohio) - The Kent State women's soccer team prepares for their Mid-American Conference tournament semifinal matchup against Ohio in Bowling Green, Thursday at 7 PM.
ABOUT THE FLASHES
The Golden Flashes enter Thursday night's playoff contest with a record of 12-4-3 (7-1-3 in the MAC). In their most recent outing, Kent State defeated Toledo at home, 4-2, in the MAC quarterfinal round Sunday. In that game, the Flashes saw contributions from all sorts of different sources, from forwards to defenders and redshirt seniors to freshmen. Freshman midfielder Siena Stambolich picked up her second goal of the season in the 20th minute, before sophomore midfielder Giulia Giovinazzi grabbed her third of the year in the 79th minute. Redshirt senior defender Karly Hellstrom added to the scoring in the 83rd minute with her fourth goal of the season, and then redshirt senior forward Cameron Shedenhelm put the Flashes over the top in the 89th minute, when she found the back of the net for the 11th time this season. Shedenhelm's goal also served as the the program-record 41st goal of the season for the team as a whole, as well as playing the role of dagger in the game, eliminating the chance of the Rockets to make a comeback and sealing the victory for the Flashes.
The win propelled Kent State, who possesses the three-seed in the MAC tournament, into the semifinal round to take on the two-seeded Ohio Bobcats Thursday. The game is actually to be played in Bowling Green, since the Falcons finished first in the conference in the regular season and were awarded home-field advantage throughout the tournament.
ABOUT THE BOBCATS
The Flashes face a familiar foe in Ohio, as the two teams last played only a week ago. In the regular season finale Thursday, with Kent State and Ohio tied for first place in the MAC and possessing identical records, both in-conference and overall, they played a tight match, taking a 0-0 score into double-overtime, with the game ultimately resulting in a tie. Due to neither team winning and Bowling Green winning their game against Toledo, the third-place Falcons jumped over both the Flashes and Bobcats to claim the number-one seed heading into the conference tourney. Ohio landed the two-seed and a first round bye thanks to having a higher conference goal differential than Kent State, leaving the Flashes with the third seed and one extra game to play.
But that extra game was nothing that the Flashes and their coaching staff couldn't handle, as they took care of business against the Rockets Sunday and scheduled a follow-up appointment with Ohio for Thursday, looking for different results this time around, a trip to the MAC Championship game on the line.
Of course, the Bobcats have other plans though, as their well-rested squad wants a win just as badly as the Flashes. But in this win-or-go-home conference tournament game, one thing is guaranteed: there will be no tie. If the score is still tied after two overtime periods, the teams will take penalty shots until a winner is crowned and sent to the championship game and a loser is sent home.
Earlier in the season, when it was still unclear who this Flashes team was and what they were capable of, perhaps this would have been a good junction in the story to talk about how talented Ohio is and how well they've played this year. And although the Bobcats are obviously a well-coached, quality team that clearly deserves to be in this position, the Flashes understand another truth: they can take them. There is now 19 games worth of evidence to prove that Kent State is a team not to be taken lightly and that can beat any team in the MAC. This Flashes team, full of so many question marks heading into the season, has now emphatically answered all of those questions by doing one thing: winning. Their performance on the field has forced the rest of the conference, including Ohio, to ignore Kent State no longer and finally acknowledge their legitimate skill and power.
The Flashes have come so far from the end of last year to now. And with all of that momentum surging them forward, Ohio had better watch out. Thursday night, the Bobcats may find themselves standing in the path of a Kent State freight train.
