Kent State University
Mercyhurst
Flashes Set for Season Opener vs Mercyhurst, Trip to #13 Ohio State
8/28/2025 10:00:00 AM | Field Hockey
KENT, Ohio – The Kent State field hockey team opens the 2025 season on Friday, hosting Mercyhurst at Murphy-Mellis Field, before heading to Columbus to face #13 Ohio State on Sunday. Friday afternoon's matchup is set for 4:00 p.m., with fans in attendance receiving free Handel's ice cream, while Sunday's tilt with the Buckeyes is slated for a 1:00 p.m. start.
Mercyhurst: WATCH | LIVE STATS | GAME NOTES
Ohio State: WATCH | LIVE STATS | GAME NOTES
About the Flashes
The Golden Flashes' Friday contest against Mercyhurst marks the team's opening game of the 2025 season. It marks the second consecutive year the team has opened the season at Murphy-Mellis Field, falling 3-1 to Indiana in the 2024 opener. The Flashes are 9-16 in their last 25 season openers, with the program's last season-opening win coming in 2022 at Indiana, a 1-0 overtime victory.
Head Coach Heather Hefner begins her second season in charge of the Golden Flashes in 2025. Kent State improved steadily throughout the 2024 season, finishing with a 7-12 overall record and a 5-3 conference record in the MAC, placing fourth in the conference. A 1-0 overtime victory over Ball State in the quarterfinals saw the Flashes make the conference tournament semifinal in Hefner's inaugural season, before falling just short to James Madison.
The biggest class contingent on the Kent State squad in 2025 is the freshman class, set to debut this season. The Flashes' freshman class features seven newcomers: Julianne Conroy, Torie Del Collo, Adelaide Gagnon, Emily Robertson, Roos ten Pas, Floortje van Eijden, and Ryli Zee.
In 2024, midfielder Eva Usoz earned First Team All-MAC honors after leading the Flashes in points (22), goals (8), and assists (6). Delfina Larripa is the other returner who earned postseason MAC honors in 2024, claiming a spot on the conference's All-Freshman Team. As a team heading into 2025, Kent State was selected fifth in the Mid-American Conference Preseason Poll, behind App State, Miami, James Madison, and MAC newcomers UMass, who were voted first in the poll. The Minutewomen's first-ever MAC contest will be against the Flashes on September 19 in Amherst.
Scouting Mercyhurst
As the Lakers begin just their second season as a Division I field hockey program, they're set to match up with the Flashes for the first time in program history. In the program's opening game as a division one program in 2024, Mercyhurst fell 7-0 at Rider. The Lakers' last season-opening win came in 2024, the program's final season in division two, 12-0 at Roberts Wesleyan University.
In their opening season as a Division I program, Mercyhurst finished 2024 with a 0-14 record. Yet to record a victory at the division one level, the Lakers are in search of a historic victory, with their first opportunity in 2025 coming against the Flashes.
Scouting #13 Ohio State
The Golden Flashes have faced Ohio State every year since 2007, except for the Covid-impacted 2020 season. Kent State holds a 9-28 all-time record against the in-state Buckeyes, with the team's last victory in the series coming in 2021 at Murphy-Mellis Field by a scoreline of 3-1. In last season's matchup in Columbus, Ohio State earned a 3-0 victory over the Flashes.
Kent State's Sunday afternoon matchup with the Buckeyes will likely be one of the Flashes' most difficult opponents in the 2025 season. Of the opponents Kent State is slated to face in 2025, Ohio State had the highest finish in the final NFHCA Division I coaches' poll of 2024 and the highest placement in the preseason poll in 2025, placing at number 12 and 13, respectively. The Buckeyes finished 14-5 in 2024, tallying six wins over ranked opponents before being upset by Rutgers in round one of the Big Ten Tournament to end their season. In 2025, Ohio State returns two First Team All-Big Ten selections in back Katie Fichtner and forward Makenna Webster. Additionally, the Buckeyes return Second Team All-Big Ten selection Anne Marie Krebs and All-Freshman selection Cam Standish in the midfield.
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