The ISU soccer team will play their last two road matches of the season this weekend, facing off against Texas Tech (10-5-1, 3-3-1) on Friday and Baylor (10-5-2, 3-4) on Sunday.

Last weekend, Iowa State (6-9-2, 1-6) lost both its games in either overtime or the final minutes of regulation, but coach Wendy Dillinger says it still took some substantial things away from them.

“We had a lot of things to be excited about in our game against Texas A&M, taking the seventh-ranked team in the country to overtime, and not only that, but putting them on their heels for 20-25 minutes in the second half,” said Dillinger.

“There were a lot of good things we drew on there and I thought we played pretty well against Texas. Gave up two free kicks on silly fouls which is something we’ve been focusing on and harping on that we have to stop doing.”

These two games are must-win games for the Cyclones if they want to make the Big 12 tournament, a scenario senior co-captain Jordan Bishop says could play in their favor.

“We have nothing to lose and we all want it so much, so it’s a win or go home kind of mentality, and we have to have it for the whole 90,” Bishop said.

Capitalizing off scoring opportunities is one thing the Cyclones struggled with last weekend, but Bishop says they are still very close to success.

“It’s a slide, it’s an inch, and we’re inches away from scoring and that’s what we need to think about,” she said. “Every inch matters.”

Dillinger said the team had early wake up calls this week as well, literally.

“We practiced this morning at six and worked at set pieces for an hour and a half. Worked on corner kicks, accuracy of the service, and just the players running in the box connecting on the service,” Dillinger said earlier this week.

Cyclone freshman midfielder Caitlin Graboski also added they would be practicing on finishing this week in practice as well.

“This week in practice, I’m guessing we are going to do a lot of finishing because that’s what we need to do this week in order to win,” Graboski said.

“I think we’re going to work really hard on that this week and hopefully apply it to the game and get some goals.”

Iowa State’s first game of the weekend will be against a Texas Tech offense featuring freshman Jessica Fuston. The rookie already has seven goals this season, but Dillinger says she isn’t the only one they are focusing on.

“I think the person that we’re more concerned about is Taylor Lytle now that she’s back in the line up. She’s been injured [but] she’s back now so she’s the one that we’re really going to key on and just make sure that we’re taking care of Jessica up top as well,” Dillinger said.

With such high scorers, Iowa State will need to create some offense as well in order to be successful, and Bishop is confident the little things will help them do that.

“I think we’re just concentrating on the simple things that we need to keep thinking about in games,” Bishop said. “Like completing passes, just the little things to make it a full game. Once we do that, we’re going to score. We will score.”

The Cyclones face Baylor on Sunday, and will have to face another two-headed monster in sophomore defender Lisa Sliwinski and sophomore forward Hanna Gilmore, with seven goals each this season. The Cyclones have noted their success against other good goal scorers this season, and are confident they can do it again.

“I think Texas A&M has the most dynamic attackers as well as Oklahoma State in the conference, which is why they both are at the top of the conference. They have prolific goal scorers,” Dillinger said. “Both of those teams we held to one goal each so I’m confident that we’re going to be able to do the job this weekend.”

In Bishop’s freshman year, Iowa State advanced to the Big 12 Tournament but lost in the first round to Texas A&M, and since then have slumped at the end of every season and lost the games they had to win. But, Bishop’s veteran knowledge could help such a young team buckle down for these last three games of the season.

“It’s just experience,” Bishop said. “Playing against these same teams for the last three years, you know how big every moment matters. All the teams are good and it will be a battle all the way through.”

After these two road games, the Cyclones head back to Ames for their final regular season game of the year against Missouri the following Friday.

“It’s a game of inches for us right now,” Dillinger said. “Looking at the next three games is a whole new opportunity, kind of like a new season.”

The first game is Friday night against Texas Tech at 7:15 p.m. in Lubbock, Texas.