Throughout its first four Big 12 games, the ISU soccer team scored just two goals. On Sunday against Oklahoma, that total ballooned to six.

After a lackluster start to the conference season, ISU midfielder Emily Goldstein’s three goals in the 4-1 victory against the Sooners put the Cyclones (7-7-2, 1-3-1 Big 12) in contention to secure a spot in the Big 12 Conference tournament.

In other words, the ISU offense figured out how to score at the right time.

“It’s been a gradual improvement all season and I think last weekend showed we can compete in the rest of our games,” said senior forward Jennifer Dominguez. “We played some of the top teams in the conference to start, but we got everything together and we played well this past weekend.”

ISU coach Wendy Dillinger thinks her team has shown in past seasons that it can finish the season strong, but this season it is finishing strong a few games earlier than other years.

“We’ve gained that momentum in previous years, but it’s always been at the tail end where we wished we had two more weeks, but now we’re in a position where we actually do have three more weeks,” Dillinger said. “At this point, we just want to take things game-to-game and make sure that we’re in the tournament.”

The Cyclones’ final three games pit them against Baylor, TCU and Oklahoma State. All three teams have one conference win, just like Iowa State.

First up from the southern triumvirate is Baylor (8-3-3, 1-2-1 Big 12), the fifth-ranked team in the conference, just one spot ahead of Iowa State. Baylor will be attempting to end a four-game losing streak that began on Sept. 29, after a 4-3 loss to West Virginia.

The Cyclones will be looking to end a sour streak of its own as Iowa State has not registered a goal against Baylor since a 1-0 win on Oct. 24, 2010.

“Baylor is a very strong, physical, fast team. They’re a very athletic team and they can kick it, run at you and they slide [well],” Goldstein said. “In the past, we’ve matched up with them and had some close games. … It’s a really good matchup and we play well against teams like that.”

Iowa State is slated to take on Baylor at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 18, at the Cyclone Sports Complex.