ISU soccer coach Tony Minatta said a key takeaway from the past weekend was playing well when setting goals.

Iowa State beat Northern Colorado 3-0 on Sept. 12 and lost to Denver 2-1 on Sept. 14.

“It was a good weekend,” Minatta said. “We started off really strong in the UNC game … [Denver], we started off not very good. We probably should’ve been down, but we came back. In the second half, we were really good.”

Iowa State is a young soccer team, and with that, a lot of the Cyclones’ success has spawned from sophomore Koree Willer. She has seven goals so far this season, including a goal in each of the last three games.

“Koree is scoring in a lot of different ways, and she is really strong right now getting the ball to her feet,” Minatta said. “To say that she’s our go-to forward. I mean, she has scored seven goals and teams are double- [and] triple-teaming her. They know who she is, but she’s really good at holding the ball up and still involving the rest of her teammates.”

Willer may be the leader in goals for Iowa State, but she attributes a lot of her personal success to her teammates.

“Huge credit would have to go to my team — the balls they give me and the support I have, I think that’s huge,” Willer said. “A lot of the goals I’m scoring I wouldn’t score without a lot of things that they’re doing.”

Minatta said Willer is starting to feel confident and the team is feeding off of that confidence. She is only a sophomore but leads by example on the field.

Willer said she’s not necessarily the most vocal leader, but she does what’s expected of her day in and day out.

“When you’re scoring seven goals, you can demand from your teammates that they rise up,” Minatta said. “The fact that she impacts what everybody else does through her play definitely shows leadership.”

In order for the team to rise up, it must follow “the process” that Minatta has been preaching the whole season. He said the players need to avoid the mental lapses and the inconsistencies in order to have more success moving into conference play.

“The first 25-30 minutes of the UNC game — that was some of the best soccer we’ve played,” Minatta said. “The second 30-35 minutes of the Denver game in the second half—that was some of the best soccer we’ve played. We want to meet that level.”

The Cyclones will try to find that level when they play the Drake Bulldogs at 7 p.m. Sept. 19 at the Cyclone Sports Complex.