The ISU Men’s Lacrosse Club is ready to face good competition this weekend in their only home games of the season at the Towers Intramural Field. The team will partake in its first Upper Midwest Lacrosse League Division A play of the season.

The Cyclones will face tough competitors from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, St. Cloud State University and University of Minnesota-Duluth, currently ranked fifth in the nation in the Division A league. Although the season is just beginning for the Cyclones (0-2), they have been practicing hard throughout the winter season, and are eager to get their game back outside after break.

“This weekend, we’ll start off our conference play,” said freshman defensive pole Michael Pokorney. “We’ve been practicing real hard, working out over in the Rec Center all winter, and getting really ready to get outside this week.”

The first game will come on Friday night, when the Cyclones face off against the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, which they narrowly lost to last season, 6-4.

With that loss in mind, the ISU men hope to come out strong and make it another close game.

“The game that I think will be most interesting will be our game against Minnesota,” said midfielder captain Jacob Oakland. “Like us, they have only played two games [this season] and when we faced them last year, we played them tight. It should be a good matchup.”

Saturday’s match will prove to be more of a challenge for the Cyclones, who face UMD, a strong team who beat them last year handily.

“Duluth is a very good team,” coach Mark Anderson said. “I’ve seen them play some good games against some very good teams. We’re going to have to play really well to beat them.”

Despite the losses to both of those teams last year, the Cyclones are confident going into this weekend with a new team and new talent.

“I feel a lot stronger with this weekend coming up,” Oakland said. “We have improved immensely as a team with being able to move the ball around, and with more experience and talent on this season’s team.”

One notable young player that has stepped it up for the Cyclones in time of need is goaltender Brendan Gross, who went into the net for the first time this season in the team’s games in Kansas. Iowa State will need more young players to step up as the season progresses.