The Kent State women’s lacrosse team won a program-most six games last year with a 6-12 record.

The Flashes tied the record with a 19-9 win over Eastern Michigan and still have five games remaining.  

“Jackie was on fire yesterday, Kenzie had some really good decision making,” coach Brianna Tierney said. “A bunch of people stepping up and filling in those other goals.”

Senior attack Kenzie Sklar and junior attack Jackie Wolford combined for 13 goals in the contest. Wolford tied the Kent State record for goals in a game with 7, while Sklar broke the program record for points in a game with 10.

Kent State is now 6-6 on the year and 3-0 in the Mid-American Conference, sitting at first place. 

“It doesn’t really feel that special because it’s something I do day in and day out,” Wolford said. “It makes my job easy having Kenzie and other teammates as well.”

KSU only allowed three goals in the second half. 

Kent State came out firing in the first quarter as Sklar scored a hat trick in the opening period. Wolford added one, but Eastern Michigan responded with four goals of its own to tie the game at four after one.

In the second quarter, Kent State scored four-straight goals in the first seven minutes, pushing the lead to 8-4. 

Sophomore attack Megan Cook and Sklar scored while Wolford added two more. The scoring continued as Sklar and Wolford scored again for a halftime score of 10-6.

Eastern Michigan opened the second half with two goals in the first four minutes, but after that it was all KSU. 

Freshman midfielder Zayda Crumpton scored to stop the run while Wolford tallied another score. Eastern Michigan would only score once more for the rest of the game. 

Wolford scored two more goals while Sklar added another in the fourth. Freshman midfielder Emily Bond, junior midfielder Sidney Dering, Cook and Crumpton also scored in the quarter. 

Senior goalkeeper Madison Flannigan had 13 saves on 22 shots to lead the defensive effort for Kent State.

“Flanigan did a great job saving some shots she had no business saving,” Tierney said. “She makes these big saves in critical moments and leads the conference in save percentage right now.”

Wolford and Sklar lead the Flashes in goals on the year with 41 and 40, respectively.

“Coming out to practice we were really good at working hard and we know what we need to do,” Wolford said. “We have the goal of being MAC champs so that’s always in the back of our minds.” 

Next up, Kent State will return home to battle Robert Morris on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Matthew Franos is a reporter. Contact him at [email protected].