TALLAHASSEE – Florida State women’s lacrosse has its first road win, and it arrived with a statement.
On a gray Tuesday at Dix Stadium, the Seminoles didn’t just edge Kent State. They tore away early, never let go, and walked out with a 14–5 victory that felt like a line in the sand for a young program still writing its history.
Kenny and Harrell Take Over
This was Meg Kenny’s afternoon from the opening whistle.
The sophomore attacker tied the program record with six points, matching the single-game goals mark with five. It was her first career five-goal outing, the latest and loudest entry in a season already stacked with seven multi-goal games.
Every time Kent State threatened to steady itself, Kenny appeared in the middle of the crease chaos, stick up, finish clean.
She didn’t do it alone. Freshman attacker Summer Harrell played the role of conductor, also tying the program record with six points. Her four assists – a career high – came in all shapes: early feeds in settled offense, sharp vision on the break, and the final dagger in the fourth. She added two goals of her own, becoming the hinge on which the Seminoles’ attack turned.
Between them, Kenny and Harrell set the tone for an offense that finally looked as free and fluid as the coaching staff has imagined.
A Start That Left Kent State Reeling
Florida State wasted no time.
Just 46 seconds in, Harrell slipped a pass to fellow freshman Amelia Brite, and the Seminoles had their fastest goal of the season. That crack in the door became a full-on surge.
Kenny struck next, finishing off a feed from sophomore midfielder Lydia Ward. Then Ward took her turn, scoring less than a minute later from a Kenny assist. Kent State barely had time to reset its defense before junior attacker Faith Wooters found junior midfielder Alyssa Deacy cutting hard to goal for 4–0.
When Kenny buried her second of the quarter off another Harrell assist, the scoreboard read 5–0 and only 6:45 had elapsed. The Golden Flashes finally punched back through two goals from Crumpton to close the first at 5–2, but the damage was done. Florida State had seized control, and it never really loosened its grip.
Balance Behind the Stars
The numbers tell you this wasn’t a one-woman show. It wasn’t even a two-woman show.
Seven different Seminoles scored. Deacy logged her third two-goal game of the season, Ward put up four points with two goals and two assists, and freshmen Brynn Perkins and Emily Barnett joined Brite on the scoresheet.
Ward, so often the quiet engine in midfield, posted her team-leading third multi-assist game of the year and opened the second half with a powerful drive from the 8-meter arc, muscling through traffic for a statement goal.
Barnett buried a free-position shot in the fourth. Perkins carved out her own moment with an unassisted strike as the game drifted out of Kent State’s reach. Each contribution added another layer to a performance that looked more complete than the 4–11 overall record suggests.
Records Fall Across the Field
Behind the scoring, the work between the lines and in the defensive third might have pleased the staff most.
Wooters matched her career high with eight draw controls, giving Florida State a steady platform to build those early runs and kill any Kent State momentum before it started.
Senior defender Superia Clark anchored the back line with the best statistical game of her career: four caused turnovers and five ground balls, both personal highs. She now leads the team with 23 caused turnovers this season, and on this day she played like it, stepping into passing lanes, stripping sticks, and turning defensive stands into transition chances.
As a unit, the Seminoles set single-game program highs in assists (10), shots on goal (30), and clears (25). Those aren’t just numbers; they’re markers of a team that moved the ball with conviction and exited its own half cleanly, again and again.
Closing the Door
Kent State tried to claw back in the second quarter, but Florida State always had an answer.
Deacy opened the frame with her second of the day, Ward providing the assist. After a brief six-minute lull, Kenny completed her first-half hat trick to stretch the lead to 7–2. In the final minute before halftime, the teams traded goals – Harrell scoring from a Perkins assist, Lundeen replying for the hosts – sending FSU into the break up 8–3 and in full command.
When Ward drove and scored early in the third, Kent State responded through Bond, assisted by Haddow. That flicker of life didn’t last. Kenny’s fourth, off yet another Harrell feed, pushed the lead to 10–4. Harrell then finished from Schaefer to make it 11–4 heading into the fourth quarter, the Golden Flashes increasingly chasing shadows.
The final 15 minutes were about finishing the job with authority.
Kenny’s fifth, again from Harrell, stretched the margin to eight. Barnett’s free-position goal and Perkins’ unassisted strike pushed the tally to 14–4 before Halli grabbed a late consolation for Kent State.
By then, the story was already written: Florida State’s first road win, delivered with clarity and edge.
Eyes Turn to Clemson
Now comes the real measuring stick.
With a week to breathe, heal, and sharpen, Florida State returns home to close the regular season against No. 11 Clemson on Thursday, April 16, at the Seminole Lacrosse Complex.
The record still says rebuilding. The performance in Ohio said something else.
Which version of Florida State shows up when a top-15 opponent walks into Tallahassee?
