In the second part of its weekend doubleheader, the ISU soccer team will match up against Loyola University-Chicago on Sunday afternoon.

The Cyclones (3-2-1) have struggled lately to battle for an entire game, but they hope that turning it around will produce the result they are looking for.

“We just need to make sure that we come out as hard in the first half as we do in the second half because we’ve been struggling to put together a full 90 minutes,” said sophomore midfielder Emily Goldstein. “We just need to make sure that we stay focused on our goal and what we need to be doing, and [on] what we need to be doing in our role in certain positions.”

A part of putting together that full 90 minutes, Goldstein said, is keeping the pressure up. Sophomore forward Jennifer Dominguez’s six shots on goal this season are tied for the team lead, and she said working on that this week will help produce a winning effort as well.

“I think that’s definitely going to be a focus this week, is high pressure and being able to cause mistakes and cause turnovers for the other team,” Dominguez said. “So I think high pressure is definitely something that we’re going to have to work on because that’s what has brought us success in the past.”

On the defensive side of the ball, the Cyclones allowed a pair of goals in each of their two games last weekend in Minnesota. In its first six games prior, Iowa State allowed just one lone goal to Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville. Midfielder Amanda Woelfel said playing as a unit will help reverse that trend.

“I think if we just play defense as a team, it will make everything a whole lot easier, so if we all just work really hard and play together, it will be much better,” Woelfel said.

Last season, Iowa State won the shooting and corner kick battle against the Ramblers (3-1-1) but couldn’t find the back of the net on any of them. Capitalizing off those chances will play a big role this weekend as well.

“We created opportunities in both games [last weekend], especially the Georgia game, and just didn’t capitalize,” said coach Wendy Dillinger.

In 2010, the Cyclones went their first six games without a loss before the Ramblers won, 2-0, in Chicago. This time around, the Cyclones enter the weekend matchups against Iowa and Loyola-Chicago on a three-game losing streak but hope the Ramblers can break this streak, too.

Kickoff is at 1 p.m., with a special 9/11 ceremony prior to the start.