The Kent State soccer team has lost two Mid-American Conference games in a row after its 2-1 loss against Northern Illinois Thursday in DeKalb, Ill.
In the 36th minute, the Huskies (7-4-3, 1-3-2 MAC) broke the scoreless tie, which helped them win them the game.
After losing 3-1 against Western Michigan last Saturday, the Flashes (5-5-2, 2-3-1 MAC) were hoping to put their best foot forward this week, but fell short.
“I thought that we traveled, we were prepared, we were ready to go and we just gave up two goals that we shouldn’t be giving up,” coach Rob Marinaro said.
Losses are rare for KSU against Northern Illinois, as the Flashes are now 17-3 against the Huskies, with eight ties.
The breakdown
There were seven fouls in the first 20 minutes – Kent State had four, and Northern Illinois had three.
“It’s a lack of concentration and moments,” Marinaro said. “But again, responsibility for results and those types of things need to be on me. I need to do a better job to make sure that we’re prepared, and that we’re feeling better about ourselves because we’re not getting the type of execution that we need.”
There was a corner kick made by the Huskies in the 35th minute that led to them scoring the first goal of the game.
“[There needs to be] better execution on both ends of the field,” Marinaro said. “Defensively, we need to do better on our set pieces, and on the offensive side, we need to create more opportunities so that you know we can be a bigger threat on execution.”
Northern Illinois were up by one going into the halftime break.
The Huskies scored again in the 58th minute when a save forced the ball right to the foot of the Huskies attacker, leading to an easy tap in goal.
Shortly after in the 60th minute, freshman defenseman Allision Collins scored a goal for the Flashes. This was her first goal of her collegiate career.
“Allison worked really hard to get down the line,” Mariano said. “We’ve been asking for service, and she went to hit one, and then it dropped into the back. It gave us a little lift there, but again, we didn’t quite capitalize on that momentum. We just need to do better in those types of moments.”
Sophomore defenseman Ava Todd, freshman forward Jules Dolinski, freshman midfielder Katie Henahan and Collins all put a shot on the net for the Flashes – the team had nine total.
Kent State’s offense tried to score a goal to tie the game in the second half but ultimately fell short.
“I thought we worked hard, but I don’t think we competed enough,” Marinaro said. “So, again, trying to get the team to figure out those situations. Once we break that wall down, we just need to get a little bit of momentum on our side.”
Both teams had one yellow card each to finish out the game.
The Flashes had the fewer total shots (9-10) and corner kick opportunities (4-5), but took more shots on goal (6-5).
Senior goalie Heidi Marshall recorded three saves, and the team has given up five goals in its last two matchups.
Up Next
Kent State will return home 1 p.m. Sunday to play Central Michigan on Senior Night at Dix Stadium.
The Flashes are 11-19 with six ties against The Chippewas all-time, and Kent State won 3-1 the last time the two teams played last season.
The Chippewas are 4-5-4 overall this season and 2-1-3 in the conference.
The Flashes are 3-2 at home, and in the last three games, the Flashes have scored two goals, and The Chippewas have scored one goal.
“We were looking for a response where the team committed to a little bit more fight and effort, but ultimately, it falls on me as the coach,” Marinaro said. “I need the responsibility of making sure that the team is up for those types of situations. And unfortunately, we haven’t been able to do that in the last couple of games.”
Emily Lowen is a reporter. Contact her at [email protected].
