Senior Yasmine Hall scored the winning goal for the second straight game as Kent State women’s soccer team beat Akron 1-0 at Dix Stadium Sunday.

The win was also sophomore goalkeeper Sarah Melen’s second shutout in two games. This is the first time the Flashes have had consecutive shutouts since 2004.

Hall scored two minutes after freshman Amanda Winquist had come into the game 58 minutes into the second half. Kent State had cleared the ball after an Akron attack on KSU’s. It came directly to Hall in the midfield area.She passed the ball to Winquist, who quickly dribbled past two opponents and sent it back to Hall standing 15 yards to the left of the Akron goal. Hall dribbled past a defender and fired a shot to the back of the net.

Hall also had scored the winning goal in Thursday’s 1-0 victory over Buffalo.

Hall had missed the better part of two seasons because of an injury. She tore her ACL eight games into the 2018 season, rehabbed it for nine months, then tore it again.

“I worked really hard on my rehab and focused on coming back,” she said. “I decided to take a redshirt, then our season was pushed back to this year. So now I can finally play again for my last year. I feel fantastic.”

Coach Rob Marinaro said Melen has done a great job in goal.

“Melen was excellent throughout the game from her services to her decision making,” Marinaro said. “she held us together and I think a lot of credit needs to go to her.”

Marinaro said the team’s defense was solid and well organized. 

“Defensively, we were spot on and didn’t give them a lot of opportunities,” Marinaro said. 

The coach said he was pleased with most of his team’s performance but that the Flashes still had things to improve on.

“We need to do better moving the ball forward (down the field), and the team knows that.” Marinaro said.

The Flashes recorded seven shots on goal, three corner kicks, one yellow card, 17 fouls and no offside penalties while Akron zips had two shots on goal, five corners, nine fouls, zero yellow cards and one offsides.   

Kent State is 2-0 and tied with Bowling Green first place in the East Division. Akron is 0-2.

“We’ve started on a high, and we want to keep going,” Hall said. “ We want to keep winning more games.”

The Flashes next play at the University of Miami on Sunday.

Ignatius Ogbu is a sportswriter. Contact him at [email protected].