A number of times already this season, the Cyclones have allowed an early goal, and each time it seemed to have let the life out of them. Friday night’s game started out much the same.

The weekend opener against Oklahoma was full of goals, but not enough of them went the Cyclones’ way and Iowa State fell at home 4-3.

“The bottom line is, and it’s been the same message as the last few games, we have to come out of the gate better,” said coach Wendy Dillinger.

Five minutes into the game, the Sooners put the first score up on the board and the ISU Soccer Complex went silent. In the 20th minute, Oklahoma scored again, but Iowa State found life when freshman forward Brittany Morgan got the Cyclones within one goal with a goal off the rebound of her own corner kick. A little more than a minute later, though, the Sooners silenced the crowd once again with their third goal of the half and a 3-1 lead into intermission.

“I think the tenacity wasn’t there or at least not much of it,” said ISU freshman forward Jennifer Dominguez. “We just didn’t have quite enough urgency in the first half.”

The score at halftime seemed like a big task to come back from, and in recent weeks, the Cyclones have faded away in the wake of a big halftime deficit.

Back in September in a game at home against Iowa, the Cyclones trailed by two at halftime and were scored on twice more in the second half and lost 4-0.

“You hate to lose that way to Iowa, especially in-state rival, but heading into the conference season, it was definitely a valuable lesson,” Dillinger said.

In the second half Friday, the Cyclones looked like a new team. They controlled the ball throughout the entire half and got off many clean looks at the goal.

“We just worked hard, we battled every ball, we pushed through their defenders and we just fought, fought and fought,” Morgan said.

In the 54th minute, Dominguez narrowed the gap with the first goal of her career, but the momentum was let down when Oklahoma scored easily a minute later when Iowa State keeper Maddie Jobe overplayed the ball and Oklahoma forward Whitney Palmer walked it in.

Down two goals with 35 minutes to play, the Cyclones refused to give up. They continued to control the ball in Oklahoma’s zone and got off a couple more clean shots that sailed high or missed left.

In the 60th minute, Morgan scored another goal to bring the Cyclones within one of the lead.

“Brittany and JD stepped up big time,” Dillinger said. “They got those same chances in the first half and they just put them away in the second half. You could really tell they wanted to win.”

Iowa State kept on pushing all the way through the end, but Oklahoma’s defense would not allow them to get around its back line. The game ended in a 4-3 Oklahoma win, but Iowa State came away with many positive things from the second half. However, a slow start doomed the Cyclones yet again.

Morgan became the team leader, as the pair of goals gave her four on the season.