Kent State University
0-3, 0-1MAC
Akron
2-2, 1-0MAC
Lacrosse Can't Get Past Akron
2/23/2022 5:58:00 PM | Women's Lacrosse
AKRON, Ohio - On Wednesday, the Kent State women's lacrosse team played its first road game of the 2022 season, taking on Mid-American Conference rival Akron. The Golden Flashes put up a fight, but were ultimately outlasted by the Zips, losing 11-6.
For Kent State, the big story of the game was a hat trick of goals scored by sophomore Jackie Wolford. Wolford, who was selected to the All-MAC Freshman Team a year ago, put on her best performance of the campaign thus far on Wednesday, scoring three goals, including two within the first 11 minutes. After Akron went up 1-0 on a goal by Noelle Boyd at 10:40 in the first quarter, Wolford fired in goals of her own at 8:54 and 4:02, giving Kent State the early advantage.
Akron would score the next three goals, but junior Morgan Kubicki would then answer back for the Flashes with 3:50 to go in the half, when she captured her first goal of the season. That made the score 4-3 Akron at halftime, but Kent State head coach Brianne Tierney and her team were unfazed, ready to come out in attack mode in the second half, looking to steal a road conference win.
It appeared that Akron had the same game plan though, as the third period contained the most goals of any period in the game. The Zips were able to amass four scores in the quarter, but Kent State got two of their own, including a second goal of the game for Kubicki and a free position goal for Kenzie Sklar, her eighth goal of the season (first on the team). Senior Abby Jones also picked up an assist on the Kubicki goal.
Headed into the fourth quarter, the Flashes' deficit was three, meaning the game was still well within reach. And to open up the final period, Kent State cut that deficit to two, thanks to Wolford's third goal of the game with 12:29 to go. After that goal though, Akron's defense tightened, while their offense kept up the pace it had maintained all game. Mackenzie Kirwan scored her second goal of the game for the Zips with 10:36 to go, and the final two goals of the game would also be scored by the Zips, when Noelle Boyd grabbed her fifth and sixth goals of the day. If the game had been longer, the Flashes may have been able to recover, but as it stood, they simply ran out of time to mount a comeback. The final score would be Akron 11, Kent State 6.
Most team stats categories were fairly identical for both teams in this one. Kent State took more shots, 30-26, but Akron took more shots on-goal, 25-22. The Zips had 30 ground balls, while the Flashes had 29. Both sides were nearly identical in successful clear attempts, and Akron had only three less turnovers than Kent State. The Flashes had zero penalties all game, while the Zips accumulated four, equaling two minutes.
The Flashes will now head on a two-game road trip to South Carolina. They'll first take on Presbyterian on Friday at 5 p.m., before traveling to play Wofford on Sunday at 1 p.m.
