Cyclone soccer kicked off its season against the Creighton Bluejays last weekend. The Bluejays are a team the Cyclones are familiar with, as they had matched up against each other numerous times throughout the past two seasons.  Despite the teams’ familiarity with each other, CU came out with an intensity that the Cyclones weren’t expecting.     

Creighton put pressure on ISU early and often. The Cyclones didn’t back down, however, and were able to hold off the Bluejay attack. This resulted in the game going into double overtime and ending in a 0-0 stalemate when the 110th minute whistle blew.      

After looking at the game tape from the contest, head coach Wendy Dillinger noticed that the Cyclones weren’t able to match the Bluejays’ intensity and that was something they need to work on as the season continues. But, there were some aspects that Dillinger was happy to see, especially since the Cyclones are so young — 11 of the 26 players on the roster are freshmen.

“It was frustrating to see that we weren’t able to convert on some of those chances, but at the same time it was really good to see that we were playing in a way that allowed us to create those opportunities,” Dillinger said.

Freshman midfielder and forward Jordan Wagner acknowledged that the Bluejays came out harder than she expected them too.

“They came out and hit really hard and went into every tackle and I think we kind of backed off a little bit,” Wagner said. “They came out like they really wanted it and I don’t think we came out with that type of intensity.”

Wagner led the Cyclones with four shots on goal but wasn’t able to get any of them past the Creighton goalkeeper, which she admits was tough to see on tape.   

“It was frustrating just watching game film and seeing what you could have done differently, but when you’re in the situation it’s not like you could have done anything differently,” Wagner said.  

A big part in the Cyclones’ ability to stave off the aggressive Bluejays was senior goalkeeper Ann Gleason, who remains one win away from becoming the ISU all-time wins leader for a goalie.

Creighton took 17 total shots and the ISU defense allowed only six of those to score. Gleason and the rest of her team made a list of goals before the season and one of them was getting more shutouts than last year and accomplishing a shutout in their first game was a big deal for the team defensively.

“We were definitely looking for a shutout going into this one”, Gleason said.

Dillinger also gave a lot of credit to her team’s defensive effort.

“They came out and put some pressure on us, but Ann and the rest of the defense really played a solid ball game”, Dillinger said. “We still have some things we need to work on but I thought our first game was a positive step for our team.”