Other than a practice facility, a locker room and recruiting capabilities, not much is different between the ISU girls’ soccer team and the ISU Women’s Soccer Club team. But perhaps the biggest difference between the two teams is sideline makeup.

The collegiate team has a staff of four coaches with extensive soccer experience, whereas the club team has no coach.

This is not something new for the club team as they have played without a coach for the past three seasons. Kim Allen and Ruth Anderson, co-president’s of the women’s team, said not having a coach hasn’t been detrimental to this year’s team.

“I like not having a coach, it’s just more fun,” Allen said.

Judging by the team’s record, it could be said that the team isn’t having a successful season, but Allen and Anderson said this team is making big strides as they prepare for its biggest tournament of the season, the NCCS National Competition in Phoenix, Ariz., from Nov. 19–21.

“Each game we are learning about each other’s strengths and weaknesses,” Anderson said following a loss to the University of Iowa. “We learn a lot from these losses.”

A positive for this year’s team is its increased number of players. In past years, the team has barely managed to get 15 players to each game. This season, however, the team is able to run a three-team rotation with 40 players taking the field for the Cyclones.

“We are used to having to call and plead with people to play,” Allen said. “It’s much better having almost 40 girls on the team.”

The team returns 10 players from last year’s squad and the rest of the 40-player squad is primarily freshmen and first-year players. The co-presidents said the players have proven to be a committed bunch, even with the lack of experience.

“I just tell them to treat it like high school,” Allen said. “If they worked hard then, they should work hard now.”

The young team has responded, Allen said, as attendance at its twice weekly practices has been the highest that she has seen in her three years with the team.

Ames Tournament Recap—The ISU Women’s Soccer Club team welcomed Iowa, Drake and Hawkeye Community College on Sunday to the Ames Tournament at the Towers Intramural Fields.

Iowa State took on Drake in its first game of the day. The Bulldogs came to play right away as they scored two goals in the early part of the first half. Iowa State’s Kim Allen answered with a goal late in the first half, and the scored remained 2–1 at the half’s end. The second half saw both teams failing to get many shots, but Iowa State finally brought the game to a tie with a late goal coming from midfielder Shannon Kurkowski. Neither team was able to put the ball in the net after, and the game ended in a 2–2 tie.

The Cyclones picked up their first victory of the 2009 season in a 4–0 win against Hawkeye Community College. A balanced offensive attack overwhelmed the Hawks early as the Cyclones were able to control the ball and kept Hawkeye from getting many chances at scoring. Leading the scoring attack for the Cyclones was Allen once again with two goals, followed by Janyce Kesselmayer and Megan Songer with one apiece.

In its final game of the day, the team lost its second game of the season to Iowa 3–0. The Cyclones were only able to get five shots on goal as the Hawks’ defensive scheme helped keep the ball in the Cyclone half of the pitch. The loss brought Iowa State’s season record to 1–2–2.