Kent, Ohio - The Youngstown State women's lacrosse team concluded its 2025 season in thrilling fashion with a 13-11 victory over the Kent State Golden Flashes on Saturday afternoon at Dix Stadium.
The Penguins finish the 2025 season with a record of 7-8 overall and 2-4 in Mid-American Conference play, winning their final two games of the season. Kent State finishes the season with a 6-11 record overall and 1-5 mark in MAC play.
Katie Grottenthaler wrapped up her sophomore campaign with a team-high four goals, while also tying a team-high with seven draw controls. Grottenthaler also reached a milestone during the contest, recording her 100th draw control of her career.
Grace Rund, another sophomore, finished her season with another very strong performance, netting three goals while tying Grottenthaler for the team-high in draw controls with seven. Rund capped off her season with back-to-back hat tricks, and five consecutive games with multiple goals.
Mia Yuris also had multiple goals during the game, finishing with two, while Lena Cox, Ally Garrett, Ava Kreutzer, and Brooke Peck each scored once.
Cox had a team-high three assists, which tied a season-high for her. She finishes her sophomore season with 26 assists, ranking second in program history in single-season assists.
Defensively, Tori Bustamante and Brooke Harper tied for the team lead with seven ground balls each. Bustamante finishes her sophomore season with 42 ground balls, which has set a new single-season program record. Bustamante also had a team-high four caused turnovers, bringing her season total to 36, one shy of tying the program record in that category as well.
Harper played all 60 minutes in the cage, totaling seven saves while allowing 11 goals.
Kent State started off hot offensively, netting the first two goals of the contest, taking a 2-0 advantage with 9:43 remaining in the opening quarter. The Penguins finally got on the board halfway through the first quarter as Grace Rund scored back-to-back goals, tying the game at two with 4:04 remaining in the opening quarter. Mia Yuris gave YSU its first lead at the 3:09 mark of the quarter off a pass from Lena Cox, and Katie Grottenthaler capped off YSU's four-goal run to end the first quarter with 34 seconds remaining, giving the Penguins a 4-2 edge heading into the second quarter.
Kent State netted the first goal of the second quarter to cut the deficit down to one, but YSU then went on another four-goal run to build a big cushion on the road. The first two goals of the run were scored with YSU being a player-up, the first by Yuris with 13:52 on the clock, and the second coming from Ally Garrett at the 11:55 mark of the second quarter. Katie Grottenthaler scored her second goal with 10:31 remaining in the quarter, and Ava Kreutzer capped off the run with a goal off another Lena Cox assist, giving YSU an 8-3 lead with 8:58 left in the second quarter. The Golden Flashes responded with the final two goals of the quarter, giving YSU an 8-5 lead heading into halftime.
Grottenthaler secured her ninth hat trick of the season with her third goal to begin the second half, before three consecutive Kent State goals brought the lead down to just one goal for YSU, 9-8, with 4:14 left in the third quarter. Brooke Peck got YSU into double digits with 1:58 left in the quarter, before the Golden Flashes answered with just 34 seconds remaining, making the score 10-9 heading into the final period of action.
The fourth quarter was a defensive battle compared to the first three quarters, with the two teams combining for just five goals over the final 15 minutes. Grottenthaler kicked off the scoring with her fourth goal of the game just 34 seconds into the quarter, extending the lead to 11-9. Kent State answered with a goal at the 13:17 mark of the quarter, before YSU scored back-to-back goals in less than a minute, the first coming from Grace Rund off a pass from Mia Yuris, and the second coming from Lena Cox with an assist from Rund, as YSU pushed their lead up to 13-10. The Golden Flashes got a goal back with 6:23 left in regulation, but that was the last goal that would be scored, as YSU held on for a 13-11 victory.
The Penguins were very dominant as a team in draw controls, winning the battle 19-9, including a 6-0 edge in the fourth quarter. YSU was also very efficient with their free-position shooting, scoring six goals on seven attempted shots.
The seven wins during the 2025 season are the second-most that Youngstown State has recorded in a single season in program history, only trailing the program's 10 wins during the 2022 season when they shared the Mid-American Conference regular season title.
