After another tough weekend of battling the country’s best, the Kent State field hockey team dropped two more closely contested games to fall to 0-7 for the season.

The Flashes were dominated offensively by No. 1-ranked Wake Forest in a 4-0 blanking, as they were out-shot 19-3 on Friday. The following day the Flashes took on No. 6-ranked Michigan State where they were unable to maintain an early lead, falling 2-1 to the Spartans.

Against the Demon Deacons, the Flashes started off strong before heading into half-time down just 1-0 against the three-time defending champions. The lone goal of the half came with 15:16 left on the clock when a save by junior goalkeeper Linz Markwart deflected back into play, putting the Deacons in position to send the lose ball into the open net. From there, Wake Forest would add on three more goals in the second half to run away with the contest.

Kent State struggled to find opportunities to jump on the board, evident in just the three shots it managed to get off. Also not helping to ease its offensive woes were penalty corner opportunities, in which they failed to record a single one to Wake Forest’s seven.

In the non-conference affair with the Spartans, a defensive effort by Markwart was spoiled in the Flashes’ fourth one-goal defeat of the season. Markwart saved a dozen shots for her squad, which allowed 22 shots to Michigan State.

Freshman midfielder/back Melanie Bierens de Haan put her team ahead 1-0 early on, when she deflected sophomore Charlotte Muller’s penalty corner shot into the back of the net 11 minutes into the contest. The Spartans proceeded to tie the game at 1-1 14 minutes later, before pulling ahead for good with 48 minutes left in the final half.

The Flashes will look to put an end to their losing ways this weekend, as they open the Mid-American Conference playing Friday afternoon against Miami. On Saturday the team will break in its newly finished complex as they host Michigan in their first home game of the season.

Contact field hockey reporter Matt Gottfried at [email protected].