“Kent played really well and we missed Brooke and Paulina in our lineup and that experience that they bring us,” said Coach Cristy Freese. “I think that even though Brooke’s only one player defensively, I think you can see we struggled defensively.”

Kent State (12-6, 7-2 Mid-American Conference) scored early and often Sunday, starting in the seventh minute when junior Debbie Bell found the back of the net. Freshman Rebecca Lee and Bell added goals in the 10th and 12th minute, respectfully, giving the Bobcats a three-goal lead.

CMU senior Pam Seufert scored her first goal of the season on a rebound off a shot by sophomore Emily Girasole in the 22nd minute, but that was as far as the comeback attempt would get.

KSU answered right back two minutes later when junior Carla Johl deflected a penalty corner shot from senior Rachel Miller past junior goaltender Anastasia Netto.

“We need to learn to play the game and this is the first game in a while that we were effected by the goals scored against us,” Freese said.

It didn’t take long for Bell to net her third goal of the game, coming out of the huddle. Less than a minute into the half, Bell capitalized on a cross from senior Nicole Leach.

Bell recorded her second hat trick of the season. She leads the conference with 20 goals, putting her in good position to win the MAC for the third consecutive year.

Freshman Jaime Cutter replaced Netto, who allowed seven goals and made four saves in 41:43 minutes of play. Cutter gave up one goal while stopping five shots in her first collegiate appearance.

“I was really pleased with Jaime,” Freese said. “She’s a freshman and she came in physically and mentally ready, and that’s what a backup needs to be able to do.”

Miller capped off the KSU scoring with her ninth goal of the season in the 44th minute, sending a shot through Cutter’s legs.

CMU (4-12, 2-6 MAC) lost the shots battle 19-5 and had only three penalty corners to Kent State’s nine Sunday.

With the loss, CMU moves to a tie for last in the MAC with a 2-6 conference record, while KSU moves into first place with a 7-2 record.

“We’ve been talking on the bus to make sure we can get over this game and move on and make some of the adjustments we have to make,” Freese said.

Saturday

After beating the defending MAC champions Ohio 2-1 in a shootout earlier in the season, the Chippewas were shut out 3-0 Saturday in Athens, Ohio.

Ohio’s Taylor Brown opened up the scoring in the 8th minute, beating Netto on a penalty corner.

Brooke Edwards added two goals of her own, as CMU was shutout for the sixth time this season.

“I don’t think that we played our best games this week,” Freese said. “We had a good week of practice and I felt the team was ready, but obviously we were inconsistent, even within the game, and so we aren’t able to get through some tough situations.”

The team will play its final weekend of games before the conference tournament when they head to Miami Saturday and Ball State Sunday. Both games start at 1 p.m.