She is halfway there, but for the first time in ISU coach Wendy Dillinger’s tenure, her soccer team’s Big 12 tournament hopes are not living on a prayer.

Just more than half way through Big 12 play, the Cyclones are sitting tied for fifth place with a 1-3-1 conference record. Kansas (0-2-1) and Oklahoma (0-4) sit behind the Cyclones, who would likely clinch a spot in the tournament with a win in any of their three remaining games.

Dillinger, in her sixth season as coach, has never lead the Cyclones to a Big 12 tournament appearance.

“It’s about time,” Dillinger said. “We’ve been playing well throughout the league. … I think the consistency is much improved, and I think we are hitting stride.”

Last season through five conference games, the Cyclones were 1-4. The team allowed an average of two goals per game but were only scoring one goal per game. Both of those numbers have improved this season.

Dig even deeper, and the differences of one season are even bigger. In eight conference games last season, the Cyclones recorded three losses by three goals or more. The team has not lost by more than two through five games this season.

ISU coach Tony Minatta, in his second year as an assistant, sees one key difference from last year’s team that has gotten the Cyclones to this point.

“The biggest thing is having a consistent group that plays together on defense,” Minatta said. “Any back line that is cohesive is much better than [individual] talent. It just helps that their all very talented as well.”

Minatta credited the additions of freshmen Kourtney Camy and Madi Ott as vital pieces to the defense’s success. Paired with the senior leadership of Jessica Reyes and Meredith Skitt, Minatta thinks highly of this Cyclone defense.

“I’d put them up there at the top [of the Big 12],” Minatta said. “I think our outside backs have the ability to go forward [and] I haven’t seen a lot of teams with the same ability. I may be biased, but I’d put us right up there at the top.”

The Cyclones currently sit at eighth out of nine in the Big 12 in goals allowed, although the team is first in saves. The Cyclones have already faced three of the top four Big 12 teams in goals per game.

With three games remaining on their eight-game conference schedule, two of the Cyclones’ opponents, Oklahoma State and TCU, average less than one goal per game. Baylor (8-3-3, 1-2-1) is third in the conference with 1.25 goals per game.

TCU also allows 1.4 goals per game, a statistic that favors the Cyclones. The Cyclones are 7-0 when scoring at least two goals in games this season.

Freshman forward Koree Willer helped get ISU into the scoring mood against Oklahoma, scoring the first goal of the game before assisting Emily Goldstein on two of her three goals. With three games remaining and the Big 12 tournament in sight, Willer hopes to see more of the same.

“I think [Emily] and I can make that happen every game,” Willer said of her performance against Oklahoma. “She’s really smart with her positioning, almost sneaky with the defender and can get the ball to me. We both have that forward mentality and know what kind of balls each of us like to each other.”

Willer, who leads the team in assists and is second in goals and points, is Dillinger’s offensive MVP of the season, so far. Defensively, she credits the entire unit as being most valuable, claiming if one piece is missing, it throws off the balance.

The Cyclones get the most generous part of the schedule as the season winds down, with two home games and a week break between each game. The team has not had a full seven-day break between games since the season started in August.

As for team goals, the Big 12 tournament is only the first step to success.

“Our main goal at the beginning of the season was getting to the Big 12 tournament,” Willer said. “We’ve struggled with that in the past and to know that we are almost there is huge. It’s not like we have said, ‘Wow, we’ve reached our goal,’ but we have competed with these teams all year and hopefully move past that.”