Flashes Lose MAC Championship Game to Bowling Green, 3-0

Sunday, November 7

Bowling Green, OH

1:00 p.m.

Kent State University

13-5-3, 7-1-3

Bowling Green

11-6-3, 8-2-1

Kent St.

Bowling Green

Photo by: Gabby Kingston

Flashes Lose MAC Championship Game to Bowling Green, 3-0

11/7/2021 2:36:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score

(BOWLING GREEN, Ohio) - The Kent State women's soccer team traveled to Bowling Green Sunday to take on the Falcons in the Mid-American Conference Championship game. Despite a valiant effort, the Golden Flashes fell to Bowling Green, 3-0, ending their season.

Heading into the match, the Flashes knew they would be in for quite a battle, despite their recent hot streak and run deep into the MAC tournament. Bowling Green, the number-one seed in the tournament, was hosting Kent State, the three-seed, after going on a winning streak themselves. And as the final two clubs left, no matter how talented they both were, something would have to give. A champion would have to be crowned, and unfortunately for the Flashes, it would be the Falcons.

The scoring first started in the seventh minute, when Bowling Green redshirt senior forward Nikki Cox sending one across the goal line to give the Falcons an early 1-0 lead, forcing the Flashes to play from behind the rest of the way.

No more scoring would occur by either side until the 70th minute, when junior defender Audrey Shea would knock one through, assisted by junior midfielder Jasmijn Dijsselhof. Six minutes later, a third Falcons goal, this time by sophomore forward Lacee Bethea, assisted by redshirt senior forward Madi Wolfbauer, would essentially put the game out of reach for the Flashes with less than 15 minutes left to play.

This marks the fourth time in a row that Bowling Green has won the MAC crown. But hats must go off to this upstart Kent State squad, who finish with a record of 13-5-3, including 7-2-3 within the MAC. After being picked to finish ninth in the preseason coaches poll and miss the playoffs completely, the Flashes shocked the conference by surging all the way to the MAC title game, coming up just a little bit short.

This marks the second time that Kent State has lost a MAC Championship game to Bowling Green, doing so in 2005 as well. In 2016, the Flashes won the conference title for the only time in their short history, defeating Northern Illinois. All of this success occurred under the skilled guidance of head coach Rob Marinaro, who must be proud of how his team played this year.

Additionally, three members of the Flashes received All-Tournament honors following their three postseason games played: sophomore midfielder Giulia Giovinazzi, redshirt senior forward Cameron Shedenhelm, and redshirt senior defender Karly Hellstrom.

So as the Flashes jog off the field for the final time in 2021, may they hold their heads high and be proud of the excellent job that they did this year. After such an amazing season in 2021, in 2022, the sky is the limit for this club.