Iowa State is hoping to continue its recent offensive success and put Stanford on upset alert this weekend when the Cyclones travel to California to take on the No. 3 Cardinals.

The Cyclones roll into their match this weekend after an offensive explosion against North Dakota that saw the team score four goals off 32 shots. Keeping that intensity and fast-paced tempo is something ISU head coach Wendy Dillinger will try to have her team utilize again.

“We need to keep it in their end and see if we can get a goal and play solid defense on our end. That’s something we didn’t do against Iowa,” Dillinger said. “We didn’t come out aggressive enough in that game, and we ended up on our heels, so we know in these games we’re going to have to come out and be the aggressor.”

Senior Emily Goldstein said taking advantage of opportunities to put the ball on frame is something that will need to happen throughout the game.

“We just have to keep shooting, even if it’s just a half-chance shot before half, one or two are bound to go in,” Goldstein said. “It hypes the team up and helps us to keep shooting every chance we get.”

On the other end of the field, the ISU defense will be trying to thwart off a quick Stanford attack that has tallied 11 goals so far this year. Goldstein said one thing will be key to slowing the attack down: discipline.

“We need to be very disciplined on defense. California teams play a lot differently than the teams we have been playing, they connect a lot more and like to move it around you,” Goldstein said. “I think on defense we’re going to have to be very disciplined and when we do get opportunities to counter, we need to take advantage of that.”

Iowa State comes into the match as heavy underdogs against a Stanford team with only one blemish, a 1-1 draw to No. 16 Portland. This game will also serve as Iowa State’s first match against a ranked opponent this season.

Despite the rankings and speculation, Goldstein revels in the idea of being underdogs and playing with nothing to lose.

“I’m excited that we’re the underdogs. We’re not supposed to do well and to the soccer world, this is going to be a fluke game for Stanford,” Goldstein said. “It’s exciting that we get to go out there and play a team that is supposedly so much better than us and we literally have nothing to lose.”

Iowa State’s game against Stanford is slated for a 1 p.m. kickoff Sunday in Stanford, Calif.