A lack of scoring chances for either team made the possibility of a tie loom in the chilly Ames night.

But one of Dominguez’s six shots, a game-high between Iowa State and visiting South Dakota State, found the back of the net while beating two defenders and the keeper en route to the score in a 1-0 win against the Jackrabbits on Friday night.

“I think maybe in my mind I was thinking I could get to the goal the whole time, but I was just going,” Dominguez said. “I just was remembering the entire first half I had a few shots and I kept going near post and during halftime, Wendy [Dillinger] just kept telling, ‘back post, back post,’ so as soon as I knew I had an open shot, I had to hit a back post.”

In the first half, neither team was able to create many scoring chances and the ones the Jackrabbits did create, the Cyclones (5-3-1) were there to help freshman keeper Andrea Swanson clear the ball out of the box. Swanson said that’s been a big help.

“That’s awesome to have defenders like that who know what to do with the ball,” Swanson said.

The shutout was her second of the year and second in a row, and Swanson said she gives a lot of the credit to her supporting cast.

“It’s definitely a confidence booster and I owe a lot a lot of it to my defense, they have been just shutting it down and not even allowing many shots on me at all,” Swanson said.

In the second half, the Jackrabbits gave Swanson a scare when a shot nearly slipped over her fingertips, but the freshman said she did what she was supposed to with a little help from the crossbar as well.

“I just drop-stepped and dove and the ball was on my upper hand like it’s supposed to be and thankfully it hit the crossbar and someone was there to clean it up,” Swanson said.

The Cyclones put together some scoring chances as well, including several corner kicks that managed to find their way to the box and a shot by sophomore midfielder Erin Green that missed high, and that continued pressure is something Dominguez said was a focus in practice.

“Over the last few weeks, that’s just something we’ve been working on in practice and just been working on getting the forwards the ball and once we get it we have to go at them and attack and I guess that’s what we’ve just been doing,” Dominguez said. “So many shots contributed to keeping the pressure up and keep going and going after the defense and going after the keeper.”

Last season, Iowa State lost six games by one goal, including two in overtime, and coach Wendy Dillinger said Dominguez’s goal made a difference.

“Then we get to play with a lead, [it] takes a little bit of pressure off and if we get scored on we aren’t down,” Dillinger said. “I think just playing with a lead is a lot different than trying to fight back and get a goal, but the big thing was finishing the game, and we did. We’ll take it, it wasn’t pretty, but we’ll take it.”

The Cyclones cap off their nonconference matchups Sunday in Toledo at noon before starting their conference season against Texas A&M and Texas next weekend.