Over matched and over powered, California ripped 30 shots and suffocated the Flashes for a 5-1 victory Friday night in San Francisco for the team’s first loss of the year and fall to 3-1-0. The lone bright spot for team was a fifth minute goal by senior Vanessa Salerno.

Falling behind quickly, the Flashes let up a fourth minute goal to the Bears. A minute later, Salerno answered back with a goal of their own. Both teams remained deadlocked at one until the 53rd minute, and then Cal poured it on.

“We learned a lot today,” Kent State coach Rob Marinaro said. “We played a really good first 45 minutes, and showed a lot of character coming back quickly early on. It was good for us to compete against a team of California’s caliber, and being 1-1 at the half gave our team confidence that we have what it takes to compete at that level.”

Staying very active in front of the net, senior goalie Kelly Sherwood made a career high 11 saves of the 17 shots.

Next up for the Flashes will be Sunday against San Francisco at 3:30 p.m.