Kent, OHIO- The Kent State soccer team returns to Zoeller Field at Dix Stadium for the final home non-conference matchup of the season to take on Eastern-Ohio foe Youngstown State University. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m Thursday.

Last Time Out

The Golden Flashes turned in an impressive effort last Sunday on the road as they forced a 1-1 draw against Northwestern. After 75 minutes of great defense from the Blue and Gold, The Wildcats turned in the first goal of the game off a KSU miscue that landed the ball right in front of Liz Cardwell who passed it off to Kennedy Roesch, who put the ball back in the net.

Kent State got the equalizer less than three minutes later as Allison Collins drilled the ball from well outside the box going right into the top-right corner of the net for the score. She was assisted by Mia Cleroux and Kelsey Salopek. With that goal, she was awarded the Mid-American Conference Defensive Player of the Week. Leah Shaffer also held tough in net with six saves. 

Scouting The Penguins

Youngstown State enters the matchup against the Flashes with a 1-3 record. They opened up the season with an extremely tough schedule visiting Indiana, Texas Tech and Missouri respectively: in their first three games. They lost those matchups by a combined score of 15-2. However, they turned in an impressive outing their last time out, taking down St. Bonaventure 3-0 at home.

YSU returns their top four scorers from 2024 in senior forwards Taylor Berry, Chloe Weiland, senior midfielder Emma Rigone and sophomore defender Sara Felder. Freshman forward Baylee Williams has started out strong this season leading the team with five points off two goals and an assist.

Freshman forward Kamryn Rosa and junior midfielder Camille Bultel have also tallied one goal and one assist so far this season. Felder leads the team in shots through four games with nine and five of them on target. Sophomore goalkeeper Maya Naimoli has impressively stopped 26 shots this season despite giving up many goals.

Series History

Thursday will mark the 16th meeting all-time between Kent State and Youngstown State. The Flashes are 12-2-1 in previous meetings against the Penguins while the two teams forced a 2-2 draw last season in Youngstown.

Up Next

Following Youngstown State, the Blue and Gold travel to Ithaca, New York to take on the Cornell Big Red at Berman Field at 1 p.m. on Sunday to begin a five-game road trip.

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