It is about that time of year to head south, and the Cyclones will follow suit this weekend when they face Oklahoma at home Friday and No. 8 Oklahoma State on the road Sunday.

After Sunday’s Kansas game, junior defender and co-captain Mary Kate McLaughlin said the team’s goal was to go undefeated in conference home games this season, and Friday’s game against Oklahoma will be their next opportunity to keep that goal alive.

Oklahoma is coming into Friday night’s game 5-4-1 and senior forward Whitney Palmer could pose a threat to the Cyclone defense.

“The biggest thing we want to try to do with Whitney Palmer is just make sure that we pressure her so when she gets the ball she doesn’t have much room,” said coach Wendy Dillinger.

“Then if she does turn and run at us we just need to have good balance and good cover in the backs so that if she does get behind the first defender we have people there to help.”

Junior defender and co-captain Emily Hejlik, who has played against Palmer every year since she got to Iowa State, also stressed the importance of positioning.

“If you’re in a good starting position it really doesn’t matter how much faster someone is than you.”

The senior forward Palmer leads her team in goals this season but will not be the only offensive weapon Oklahoma will utilize.

“Their forwards are really fast and they come flying at you from the backs to the midfields to the forwards so we are going to try and get them on a counter probably,” said senior co-captain Jordan Bishop.

On the offensive end, Iowa State plans to add to Oklahoma’s 16 goals allowed this season, a fairly high number through 10 games.

“We are just going to shoot from everywhere because we’ve watched film and we’ve seen their weaknesses and we know what we need to do offensively and we know why they have been getting scored on so much so we just have to capitalize off their weaknesses defensively,” said freshman midfielder Emily Goldstein.

Goldstein leads the team in goals, points and shots on goal, but had been in a bit of an offensive lull. Before last weekend, she hadn’t recorded a goal or assist since Aug. 29 against Nevada, but she hopes last Sunday’s goal against Kansas will help her get back into a groove.

“It was just a good game and was a really a big confidence booster not only for me but for the team as a whole so this way offensively we will get more chances and this way I’ll be able to shoot more and hopefully putting goals in but if not getting a bunch of assists so we just win,” Goldstein said.

The second game of the weekend might be the Cyclones’ toughest yet; an away game against the eighth-ranked team in the country, Oklahoma State (9-1-1).

“We are just going to have to be tenacious defensively; we need to be stingy and disciplined in our defending,” Dillinger said.

Last season, Iowa State beat Oklahoma State 2-1 in Ames, and Dillinger expects the Cowgirls to be ready to redeem themselves in Oklahoma.

“They are a talented side and they have a little of the vengeance factor from last year when we beat them here so I’m sure they are going to have it out for us when we get there,” Dillinger said.

Junior midfielder Krista Lopez could be the toughest player Iowa State will face this season. Lopez is second in the Big 12 in goals with nine, and points.

“The big thing is you really have to be physical with both of them, especially Lopez, and Palmer doesn’t really like to be pushed around,” Hejlik said.

“I know Lopez doesn’t like to be pushed around so you kind of have to from the beginning whether it’s a hard tackle you just have to send a message that this is how it is going to be the whole game and offensive players usually don’t like to be too physical.”

Bishop and Lopez played on the D’Feeters select team together in Texas, and Bishop said she was a dominant player back then as well.

“You just have to shut her down. You have to stay on her back, don’t let her turn, just keep pressuring her and make her cough the ball up and get her frustrated,” Bishop said.

The key to the Cyclones being successful defensively this weekend will be one-on-one battles according to Hejlik.

Iowa State hopes to create more scoring chances after not creating many against Kansas.

“We’re going to come in with the mentality of transitioning really fast and trying to get in on the counter attacks,” Dillinger said.

Senior goalkeeper Ashley Costanzo is still not back to 100 percent but Dillinger said she is as good as she is going to be.

Hejlik left Sunday’s game early with foot and ankle pain but should be ready to go for Oklahoma.

The Oklahoma game is at 6:30 p.m. Friday at the ISU Soccer Complex, and all matches are free this season.