Kent State University
Longwood
Field Hockey Set for Sunday Afternoon Clash with Longwood
10/3/2025 12:26:00 PM | Field Hockey
The Kent State field hockey team returns to action on Sunday as the squad welcomes Longwood to Murphy-Mellis Field. The fourth MAC contest of 2025 for the Golden Flashes (2-7, 1-2) is set to begin at noon on Sunday. As the program celebrates Alumni Day, an alumni recognition ceremony will take place at halftime. Additionally, there will be a giveaway of powder blue poms and cowbells for fans in attendance.
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About the Flashes
The Golden Flashes are only slated to play one game this weekend, marking only the second weekend of the 2025 season thus far without two games. With no non-conference games remaining on the schedule, the Flashes have just one remaining weekend on the schedule with two games, October 17 and 19, against Ohio and at Central Michigan. This Sunday's game against Longwood will be at Murphy-Mellis Field, giving the team its longest stretch without travel since the start of the 2025 season.
Emma Rolston scored Kent State's only goal in two games last weekend, but it proved to be extremely important. With her solo effort in overtime at Ball State, the Flashes snapped a seven-game losing streak to get on the board in MAC play. Rolston is now tied with Maybritt Duwel atop the team's goalscoring standings at five goals apiece. Rolston also leads the team with 11 points in 2025.
While Rolston's goal secured a win for the Flashes last Sunday, senior goalkeeper Allison Wood may have been the MVP for Kent State. Wood tallied eight saves in almost 69 minutes of action to secure the team's first shutout of the season against the Cardinals. In the prior game against Miami at Murphy-Mellis Field, Wood set a new career-high with ten saves in the defeat to the RedHawks.
After starting MAC play against the top two teams in the conference preseason coaches' poll, Kent State recorded its first win of conference play last Sunday at Ball State to improve to 1-2. The Flashes will not play another team selected in the top five of the MAC preseason coaches' poll until Senior Day on October 26 against James Madison. Between now and then, the Flashes have four games on the schedule, a pair of home contests against Longwood and Ohio, and trips to Bellarmine and Central Michigan.
Scouting Longwood
After facing many explosive offenses in the opening month of the season, Longwood gives Kent State a much different opposition than they have grown used to. While the Lancers have only scored eight goals this season and average less than one goal per game, Longwood's defense has been the strength of the team, boasting a .711 save percentage and a shutout in September against William & Mary. The Lancers opened MAC play with a heartbreaking 4-3 overtime defeat to Ball State. Last weekend, Longwood lost 5-0 at No. 18 James Madison before suffering a close defeat to Bellarmine at home. Half of the Lancers' goals in the 2025 season have been scored by junior forward Channy Johnson, who leads the team with four goals. Sophomore goalkeeper Sophie Mooldijk has played every minute in the cage for Longwood this season, tallying an impressive 81 saves and the aforementioned .711 save percentage.
The Flashes lead the all-time series with Longwood 12-4, boasting a 12-3 advantage over the Lancers since the team joined the MAC as an affiliate member in 2014. Kent State has won the last three meetings between the teams, including a 2-1 win on a rainy day in last season's game in Farmville. Longwood's last win over the Flashes came in the 2021 MAC Tournament in Oxford, Ohio, by a score of 1-0.
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