Jennifer Dominguez is a sophomore at Iowa State, but is in her first year with the Cyclone soccer team, and the way she joined the team is as unconventional as it sounds.

If you’re a kid from Lubbock, Texas, you most likely dream of some day being a Red Raider in some sport or another, what with Texas Tech University just around the block. The case is not the same for Dominguez, a native of the west Texas town.

“I actually never wanted to stay in Texas at all. I wanted to get out of my backyard and really wanted to see something new and I’m really happy with Iowa State and the choice I made,” Dominguez said.

Dominguez has family ties to Iowa State, as her godparents are both graduates, and said she has always been a Cyclone at heart.

“Coming from Lubbock, and Texas Tech being there, everybody was raised a Red Raider fan, and I never really was and because of my godparents I was always a Cyclone fan,” Dominguez said, “so it was really cool to just to come here.”

“When I came on a visit I just fell in love with the campus and everything here in Ames.”

Coming out of high school, she had a few offers from some smaller schools, but she knew she could do better and was determined to do so.

“I had gotten a few offers from Division 2 schools and I just didn’t want to settle. I wanted to play Division 1 and I wanted to play at a school I really loved. With my family background and my godparents going here I just loved this school so much,” Dominguez said. 

Dominguez came to Iowa State in fall 2009 just like all the other incoming freshmen. During her first semester she was a normal college student from Texas, but when Christmas break rolled around, her life was about to change.

She went home during Christmas break and watched her old high school team play and met up with some of the girls she had played club soccer with. Once she got back to campus, she received a phone call from a family friend saying her name was in the newspaper for how her high school team was going to replace her.

“It just got me thinking, because when watching them back home I really missed it, so I decided to send an e-mail to [assistant coach] Tracy Grose and just hoped that I would get a response back,” she said.

About a week later she received a pleasant surprise. She received a message from Grose about a meeting and then talked to coach Wendy Dillinger and received a tryout from there.

“She caught our attention with her speed, her explosiveness and her ability to turn and shoot,” Dillinger said.

After trying out for three or four days in the middle of February, Dominguez got the news she had always hoped for.

“I think it was on a Tuesday morning,” Dominguez said. “Wendy pulled me aside before practice and had told me she would like to offer me a spot on the team and that she had really liked what she had seen from me.”

Dominguez fit right in, as if she has been with the team all along, and she began working immediately.

“Went from there, she joined us and started working out and got fit, and has really integrated well with the group especially off the field,” Dillinger said.

Dominguez worked out during the summer and practiced with some teams back home, but by the time summer was coming to a close, she was more than ready, moving back a month early to get a head start and prepare for preseason.

Dominguez credits the smooth transition to fellow sophomores Megan Long and Amanda Woelfel.

“They just kind of took me under their wing, and they are two of my really good friends now; two of my best friends I’d say,” Dominguez said. “They helped me with the transition from being a normal student to an athlete second semester.”

Dominguez hasn’t notched any goals yet this season, but her presence and abilities definitely haven’t gone unnoticed.

“She definitely is a true forward. She understands the runs that she needs to make to find the ball, she always looks to get to goals and she can turn quickly,” Dillinger said. “She has a rocket of a shot.”

Midfielder Jordan Bishop is a senior co-captain for the Cyclones and Dominguez is the first walk-on she’s played with at Iowa State.

“She has been my first [walk-on] since I’ve been here and she’s been an amazing asset to the team. She’s fast, dynamic, very physical on the ball, she wins tackles and has a great left foot shot,” Bishop said.

“I think once we find her on the back side if we play her through more, she will have more opportunities to score, we just haven’t done that yet.”

Bishop and Dominguez are both Texas natives as well. While Carrolton, Bishop’s hometown, is about six hours east of Lubbock, they are still able to go home together.

“She’s been great. She’s helped us forwards and helped us through learning things,” said freshman Brittany Morgan.

Dillinger said she gets about two to three girls every year who tryout for the team, but very rarely is one good enough to make it.

Dominguez said the pace is much faster and more competitive than the club level, but it hasn’t seemed to faze her, and she encourages other girls who think they can compete at this level to do the same.

“Definitely don’t give up. If it’s something that you want to try to accomplish then you have to give it a shot. A year ago my life was completely different than it is now and it’s all because I took a chance,” Dominguez said.

“Playing in college is something that I wanted so if I wouldn’t have jumped in and tried to do it then it would have never happened so you just have to give everything a shot.”

The Cyclones’ next game is against Iowa on Friday night at home, and being the first official home game of the year, Dominguez couldn’t think of a better time to get that elusive first goal.