Kent State University
Northern Illinois
Flashes Back at Home Sunday to Face NIU
10/14/2023 1:30:00 PM | Women's Soccer
KENT, Ohio – With just four games left in the regular season, the Kent State women's soccer team will look to defend home turf on Sunday against Northern Illinois at Zoeller Field at Dix Stadium. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. and will be streamed live on BoxCast with Mike Elkins on the call.
LAST TIME OUT
The Golden Flashes (8-4-2, 5-2-0 MAC) earned an impressive 2-0 victory over Bowling Green on Thursday, handing the Falcons their first loss in Mid-American Conference play.
Alisa Arthur opened opened up the scoring for the Flashes early, netting her sixth goal of the season. Arthur attempted a penalty kick but it was batted down by the Bowling Green keeper. The rebound found its way right back to Arthur, however, and the junior capitalized on the second-chance shot. Arthur leads Kent State in goals and points (15) this season.
In the second half, Callie Cunningham doubled the Kent State lead. Cunningham was on the receiving end of a perfect pass from Siena Stambolich, and after making the keeper miss, buried her first goal of the year.
The story of the game, however, was the Flashes' defensive effort. Bowling Green generated 27 shots on the night, but the back line of Abby Breitschuh, Ava Todd, Kelsey Salopek, and Dalaney Ranallo limited the Falcons to just six on goal, all of which were saved by Sarah Melén. The defensive unit faced 11 Falcon corner kicks but stood strong all game, cutting out scoring chances and blocking shot after shot.
QUEEN ARTHUR
Alisa Arthur has had a stellar junior campaign for the Golden Flashes. Arthur leads the team in goals (6), points (15), shots (46), shots on goal (22), and game-winning goals (3) on the year and is tied for third on the squad in assists (2). She has scored points in six of seven MAC games so far, netting goals in five of those. The junior has scored in three-straight games, including the game-winner in Thursday's shutout victory on the road at Bowling Green.
RISING IN THE RECORD BOOK
Sarah Melén has been electric in goal for the Flashes throughout her career in Kent and that has continued this year. Melén's 63 saves on the season are the third-most in the MAC and her .808 save percentage is the second-highest in the conference. With Sunday's 3-1 route over Central Michigan, Melén became just the fifth keeper in program history to tally 25 wins. She has saved 240 shots in her career, the fourth-most in program history, and her 16 career shutouts are also the fourth-most all time at Kent State.
SCOUTING NORTHERN ILLINOIS
Northern Illinois sits in the middle of the Mid-American Conference table entering Sunday's match. The Huskies (5-6-3, 3-3-1 MAC) fell to Buffalo 2-0 at home on Thursday, which snapped a streak of three-straight shutout wins. NIU has only dropped one league game on the road so far this season, falling to Western Michigan 3-0 in the conference opener last month.
Ten different Huskies have scored goals so far this season for Head Coach Michael O'Neill's squad. Leah Greunnagel, Sahara Zingano, and Isabel Struble lead the Huskies with two goals each, and Greunnagel is the only team member to tally multiple assists. Abby Zipse is the only field player to tally over 1,000 minutes on the NIU squad.
Sadie McGill has handled the majority of the Northern Illinois goalkeeping duties, starting 14 games. She has made 43 saves on the season and her six shutouts are the second-most in the MAC this season.
SERIES HISTORY
Kent State and Northern Illinois will face off for the 28th time on Sunday afternoon with the Golden Flashes holding the advantage in the all-time series, 13-9-5. The Golden Flashes are unbeaten in their last 10 matches against the Huskies, including eight consecutive wins from 2015 to 2021. A year ago, the two squads drew 1-1 in DeKalb after Taylor English scored the first goal of her collegiate career to force the deadlock.
GAMEDAY PROMOTIONS
Kent State Soccer will be promoting awareness and understanding of epilepsy and seizures during Sunday's match against Northern Illinois. Epilepsy is a disease that involves recurrent unprovoked seizures and affects more than 3 million Americans.
UP NEXT
The Flashes will host their final home game of the 2023 regular season on Thursday, Oct. 19 against Western Michigan. First touch is set for 7 p.m.
FOLLOW THE FLASHES
For more news and information about the team throughout the 2023 season, be sure to follow the Flashes on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
