It is only two games into the season and already the Cyclone freshmen are making their presence known.

Sunday afternoon, Iowa State beat in-state counterpart Northern Iowa by a score of 3-1, with two of the three goals and two assists coming from freshmen feet.

“We have a lot of young kids on our team that have played at a very high level at the club setting,” said coach Wendy Dillinger.

Freshman Emily Goldstein won a national championship with her club team just 10 days before she got to Iowa State. Sophomore Marissa Allen, who isn’t playing due to a shoulder injury, has been on that stage as well, and Mesquite, Texas, freshman Brittany Morgan won a club championship with her club team.

Iowa State kicked off the second half of the game against Northern Iowa with a surge sparked by Goldstein, who scored the first goal off a cross pass from fellow freshman Meredith Skitt in the 72nd minute.

“I just really wanted it for the team and not just for myself, so I think the selflessness helps us as a team do better and individually it helps me do better because I’m not thinking about myself, I’m thinking about the team first,” said Goldstein on her success in the game and season so far.

Just three minutes later, in the 75th minute, ISU freshman goalie Maddie Jobe was called for a penalty inside the box and Northern Iowa was awarded a penalty kick. UNI captain Chelsie Hochstedler scored in the top corner, but ISU coach Dillinger wasn’t upset about the lead-up to the penalty.

“I liked the fact that she was decisive in making her decision and when she decided to come out on that play, she made that decision and she was solid and confident in doing that. We’ll take that,” Dillinger said. “We are very, very confident in Maddie, and if [starter] Ashley [Costanzo] got hurt or she was just out of it, we wouldn’t even bat an eye about Maddie being in the goal.”

An Eden Prarie, Minn. native, Jobe was thrown into action in the second half, replacing the senior Costanzo to get some game experience at the NCAA level.

“I’ve been playing soccer my whole life. [The college level is] nothing different, it’s just I got nerves with it and sometimes you need a little mistake to boost yourself,” Jobe said. “What is going to matter now is how I react to it.”

Goldstein came into the picture again a few minutes later, when she assisted Mary Kate McLaughlin’s goal that got past UNI goalie Lauren Potzman in the 80th minute.

Iowa State kept the pressure on the Panthers when,n the 85th minute, freshman Theresa Kucera kicked in the third and final goal of the game off a shot from senior Jordan Bishop that was deflected.

The freshmen owe much of their success to the upperclassmen, who have helped them improve in many ways.

“Jordan [Bishop] and Ashley [Costanzo] have great experience and leadership and they are great individuals, too,” Dillinger said. “They look at the youngsters and realize they are kind of the ticket to get to where we want to be, and they are really excited about it.”

What often happens with young teams is the freshmen come from different playing styles and it is hard for them to play together. This team, however, is different.

“They all want to play possession, which is what we want to do,” Dillinger said. “From that aspect they are very similar in a sense of the style of play, and you don’t find that very often.”

The team has played well together from the start, a pleasant surprise for a team with as many freshmen as Iowa State has.

“We have been able to come together and hang out a lot as freshmen, even off the field, and it’s been just a really good experience,” said freshman forward Jennifer Dominguez.

Normally, when a team is coming off a season with just two conference wins, more youth coming in may not be reassuring for a new year. But for these Cyclones, adding 13 freshmen provides great depth and could prove to be beneficial as the season goes on.

“We have the firepower, we just need to execute now,” Dillinger said.