After another winless weekend, the Cyclones will hope to send off the senior squad members and coach Tony Minatta with a win against Kansas in the final game of the season and their respective Cyclone careers. Iowa State fell short to Texas 3-2 and Baylor 2-0 over the weekend and will now face Kansas on Thursday evening.

It was a tight game against Texas as the Cyclones were level with the Longhorns at halftime with a score of 1-1. The second half saw Texas score two goals within 15 minutes of each other, extending their lead to 3-1, but an 89th minute consolation goal from freshman Kenady Adams saw the Cyclones fall just short of a draw. 

“I just think Texas is a really good team overall,” said junior forward Tavin Hays. “We knew that coming into the game so we knew we had to battle from start to finish.

“They ended up taking the lead because they are as good as they are.”

The 2-0 loss to Baylor saw Iowa State struggle in the attacking third, having only registered one shot on target throughout the 90 minutes. This is something to be improved upon if the Cyclones would like to earn a win on Thursday evening as they face a strong 11-4-3 Kansas side. 

“I think we all kind of buckled down,” said sophomore Abigail Harbin. “Some things didn’t go our way but we all never gave up.”

The Cyclones have only found the back of the net 10 times this regular season, and facing Kansas doesn’t make their scoring chances any easier. Kansas’ defense has been rock solid this season, having kept seven clean sheets so far, so the Cyclones will have their work cut out for them.

Despite facing a strong defensive side and going through some struggles on the attacking end of the pitch, the Cyclones are driven to win the final game of the season to end their current nine-game losing streak.

“I think we’ll have a different bit of a mentality because we don’t want to be last in the conference,” Harbin said. “It’s always a good battle against KU but we’re really trying to get that last win.”

The Cyclones will face off against Kansas with kickoff scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday in Ames.