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Kent State’s quickly lost their new-found momentum in a weekend trip that resulted in two losses for the Flashes. After the Flashes improved to 3-1 in the Mid-American Conference, they proceeded to fall to the Ohio Bobcats, 2-0, on Friday.

Kent State’s offensive struggles continued on Sunday, when the Flashes were held without a goal from the field in a 3-1 loss to Missouri State.

“We don’t execute,” said Kent State coach Kathleen Wiler. “We don’t have pride, we don’t have desperation in the circle. Simple as that.”

Senior Debbie Bell scored the Flashes’ only goal of the weekend on a penalty stroke in the final four minutes of play versus Missouri State. Physical defensive play prevailed on a rainy afternoon at Murphy-Mellis Field. The Golden Flashes outshot the Bears 24-13, but failed to score, as Missouri State goalkeeper Andrea Bain made six saves in the win. While Kent State struggled offensively, its defensive performance wasn’t any better.

Missouri State scored two of its three goals on turnovers deep in Kent State territory. Senior Amy Wimsatt’s upfield pass was intercepted by Hillary Lawless, who proceeded to score an unassisted goal in the 12th minute of the game. Missouri State scored off another turnover in the second half, when the Bears’ Casey Bayliss intercepted another pass. Missouri State entered a 2-on-2 rush toward the goal, and Bayliss scored to extend the Bears’ lead to 3-0.

“We kind of put ourselves in a bad position,” Wiler said. “The biggest thing is, if you turn the ball over, you just have to react.”

Although Kent State recorded almost twice as many penalty corner attempts as Missouri State, the Bears were the only team to capitalize on the opportunity, when Bayliss scored on a corner in the 60th minute of action.

The Flashes’ two losses in MAC play dropped their conference record to 3-3 and overall record to 5-10. Kent State will begin a two-game road trip on Saturday when the Flashes travel to Ball State to face the Cardinals before wrapping up the weekend in Oxford, Ohio on Sunday versus the Miami RedHawks. Ball State is currently 3-12 overall and 3-4 in the MAC, and Kent State defeated the Cardinals, 4-1, in their first matchup. Miami defeated Kent State, 2-1, in the two teams’ first game of the season, but the RedHawks are struggling with a 5-11 overall record. Kent State will look to regain confidence versus its conference foes this weekend.

Kent State discovered its offensive prowess in its first game against Ball State, as senior Carla Johl, sophomore Rebecca Lee and Bell combined to score four goals. The victory was the first of two impressive performances in which Kent State combined to score eight goals in two games. Since then, the Flashes have scored one goal in their last two games. Kent State will likely look to regain its aggressive offensive attack versus Ball State. However, they must first overcome rival Miami, who earned a hard-fought 2-1 victory over the Flashes at Murphy-Mellis Field on Oct. 1.

Contact Nick Shook at [email protected].