A typical weekend for the Cyclones has the team playing both games at home or on the road. This weekend, however the Cyclones will have the comfort of home as well as a lengthy road trip.

“I think it’s going to be tough,” said head coach Wendy Dillinger. “But we just have to stay focused mentally.”

Friday night’s game will be at home for a nonconference match against the Illinois State Redbirds. The next morning, the Cyclones (4-7-1) will board a bus at 4:30 a.m. to catch a plane headed to the Lone Star State for a Sunday conference match with No. 7 Texas A&M.

Last season, the Redbirds (6-6-1) were the Missouri Valley Conference regular season champions but have gotten off to a slower start this season, including a five game losing streak.

“Illinois State’s probably at the same place we are in terms of what they have done, and we’re expecting a game,” Dillinger said.

The Cyclones have worked this week in practice to rid themselves of many mistakes that have plagued them throughout the season.

“I think this weekend, we’re going to play more of our style on offense by keeping the ball on their half,” said junior defender Tori Johnson. “We’re hoping to become more positive all around and keep the energy.”

Iowa State will need to put the pressure on throughout the game on the offensive side of the ball and have its players rise to the occasion.

“We need players like Leslie Hill, Elise Reid and Amanda Nimtz to step up to lead the offense,” Dillinger said. “We also need our defense to continue to play hard soccer.”

The Aggies (10-1-1) ended the ISU season last year in the Big 12 Tournament after winning on penalty kicks. Offensively, Texas A&M is second in all major offensive categories in the Big 12, behind No. 13 Oklahoma State.

“I think our players get up for big games, but the young players we have might feel overwhelmed by the atmosphere down there,” Dillinger said.

Dillinger is referring to a stadium which averages a nation leading 3,832 fans per game. Iowa State averages only 743 a game, despite setting attendance records twice this year.

Texas A&M is credited for having the largest attendance in the history of the NCAA when 8,204 fans crammed in to watch the Aggies play North Carolina in 2006.

“We are excited to go down there and play,” Johnson said. “It’s such a great opportunity, and we know we will have to play tough offense and defense to win.”

Winning is not new to the Aggies, as they have won four consecutive Big 12 titles and six overall in their illustrious history.

Scoring has been hard for the Cyclones recently, and the match against Texas A&M will not be any easier.

Aggie sophomore goalkeeper Kelly Dyer has allowed only six goals in 915 minutes for a mind-boggling 0.59 average goals allowed. The Cyclones have been working diligently to figure out a way to connect with more goals.

“We have been working on the final third [of the field] with attacking,” Dillinger said. “I put a restriction on that once the ball gets in there, they have only so many seconds to get the shot off to really try to force them into urgency.”

Limiting corner kicks and creating opportunities of their own is key to the Cyclones’ weekend if they want to come away with two wins.

“We have to force more corners and not give up as many,” Johnson said. “Corner kicks are a 50-50 chance. They are great opportunities for you to score a quick goal, and we haven’t been doing a good enough job on both sides of the ball with that.”

The Cyclones currently rank last in the Big 12 in corner kicks with 2.75 corner kicks a game, a number that will have to change for the team to make a push toward a spot in the Big 12 tournament.

“It all comes down to leadership on the field,” Dillinger said. “We have leaders, but they need to be more vocal out there to get this team going.”