The Kent State women’s soccer team’s travels resulted in a mixed bag this weekend, defeating Miami University, 1-0, but also stumbling against Ball State by the same score.

The Flashes (7-4-1, 3-1 Mid-American Conference) began the weekend Friday afternoon by taking care of Mid-American Conference doormat Miami (0-10-1, 0-3-1 MAC), even as the game played out far from ordinary.

The Flashes found themselves with a hurdle to jump over just 10 minutes into the match when senior forward Hayden Pascoe was issued a red card. The ejection, Kent State’s first of the season, reduced the team to 10 players for the remaining 80 minutes of the game.

Even as they were down a player for a majority of the match, Kent State still controlled play, outshooting Miami 12 to 10.

The breakthrough for the Flashes came when freshman forward Isabelle Mihail scored her second goal of the season off of a Karli Paracca assist, her third of the year. Goalkeeper Ashleah McDonald picked up her fifth shutout of the season.

After the win against Miami in Oxford, Ohio, the Flashes hit the road again to Muncie, Indiana, to take on Ball State (5-5-2, 3-0-1 MAC). 

The Flashes couldn’t stop Ball State’s impressive recent run of form Sunday afternoon, falling 1-0 to the Cardinals. This was Kent’s first loss in eight games, going all the way back to their 2-0 loss to Florida Gulf Coast University in the FGCU Tournament a month before on Sept. 1.

The two teams remained deadlocked until the 55th minute when Ball State’s sophomore forward Julia Elvbo cleaned up a rebound, knocking the ball past McDonald in what would end up being the game’s only goal.

Ball State won in many of the statistical categories, outshooting the Flashes 13-9 (7-6 on goal), and tallying six corner kicks to Kent State’s zero.

Freshman defender Karly Hellstrom led the way for the Flashes with two shots on goal. Senior defender/midfielder Jaime Eiben and freshman midfielder Vital Kats were disciplined with yellow cards.

The Flashes will look to put the loss to Ball State behind them when they return to action at 7 p.m. Thursday at Dix Stadium as they aim to take down the University of Akron in the Wagon Wheel Challenge. 

Cameron Hoover is a sports reporter. Contact him at [email protected].