The Kent State field hockey team (5-4) ended its three-game losing streak and won its first matchup in MAC play Friday in a decisive 3-1 victory over Ball State University (4-5).

Kent State looked well-organized and aggressive through the first period of the match, taking 12 shots and holding Ball State to just three.

Ball State’s senior Mikayla Mooney scored the team’s first goal early, taking advantage of one of the team’s first and only corners of the day. Ball State received only three penalty corners for the day, with only one in the first period, compared to the 10 penalty corners from Kent State.

Junior Silvia Figa Malgosa got Kent State on the board no more than six minutes later, tying the game at one where it would stay for the remainder of the first period.

Figa Malgosa has scored three goals so far this season, which ties for second-most on the team along with junior Shannon Talbot. Redshirt junior Alison Harmatz leads the team in goals with six.

Kent State would score two more times before the end of the game: one goal coming from Harmatz, the other from Talbot.

“It’s a new chapter, we’re happy to start it off on the right foot, ” said head coach Kathleen Wiler, when asked about how she felt about playing in, and winning, the first MAC game of the season.

Kent State was 4-1 coming into the four-game stretch at home that began with Monmouth on Sept. 9. The Flashes would play a tough lineup, containing two nationally-ranked teams: Iowa and Northwestern.

“We’ve been working so hard and playing so well lately, but we didn’t have the results we wanted. We knew today was a new start,” Figa Malgosa said when asked about how she felt about the tough stretch that ended with a win against Ball State.

Kent State’s next match will be against Longwood University, another MAC conference team, in Farmville, Virginia, on Monday.

The Flashes will return to Murphy-Mellis Field for another conference matchup on Oct. 12, where they will take on Central Michigan University for the cancer research game.

Brandon Busby is a sports reporter, contact him at [email protected].