The ISU soccer team travels to Minneapolis this weekend to face off with two unfamiliar foes: DePaul and San Diego State. The Cyclones (4-2) are coming off of an impressive 7-1 victory against Northern Iowa in Ames on Tuesday night.

Iowa State had lost its previous two games before Tuesday, including a 3-1 loss to Iowa in Ames last Friday. Nonetheless, they managed to bounce back in aggressive fashion against the Panthers.

“The thing that I’m most impressed with and happy about is just the confidence and the courage that we played with [on Tuesday],” said ISU coach Wendy Dillinger. “Especially after we lost to Iowa, we challenged them to step up with more confidence and more energy, and they did that.”

The Cyclones were firing on all cylinders Tuesday, as 25 players on the roster received playing time. Six different players netted goals for Iowa State as the team outshot Northern Iowa 31-11.

Making sure this momentum carries into this weekend’s games in Minneapolis is going to be a key focus in practice this week.

“We’re going to stick with the routine that we had before [Tuesday’s] game,” Dillinger said. “We had a great team meeting, talking about confidence and just addressing what the players are thinking and how they’re feeling, to try to build that confidence and motivation.”

Non-conference games are seen as great preparation and a chance to build confidence before heading into the rigorous Big 12 schedule. After losing two games last week to Virginia Tech and Iowa, the Cyclones made winning all three of this week’s games a primary objective.

“We need to learn from our mistakes, stay more connected in the back and hopefully get two wins out of this weekend,” said ISU sophomore Lindsay Frank. “[Non-conference games] are very important. We get to learn from mistakes that we’re making so they don’t happen in the Big 12 Conference.”

This weekend’s games feature a couple of unfamiliar opponents for the Cyclones.

The team has faced DePaul (4-1-1) only five times in the program’s history, trailing 3-2 all-time in the series. DePaul’s defense has allowed only three goals through during their six games so far this season.

Sunday’s game against San Diego State (5-0) will be the first ever meeting between the two teams. The Aztecs are also off to a dominant start this season, outscoring opponents 7-0 through their first five games.

“Me personally, I love playing teams that I don’t know,” said ISU senior Amanda Woelfel. “I like playing new unfamiliar faces because then there [are] no expectations. You just go out there and play.”

The Cyclones face DePaul at 4:30 p.m. Friday afternoon and San Diego State at 10:30 a.m. Sunday in Minneapolis.