The ISU women’s hockey club split its last home series of the year against the Rainy River Community College Voyageurs this weekend at the Ames/ISU Ice Arena.

The Cyclones (6-16-1) lost 8-1 to a tough team from up north on Sunday in RRCC (10-10-0) – which is located minutes from the border of Canada in International Falls, Minn.

Rainy River came out quick and scored on a shot rebounded off of goaltender Katie Faulds glove at 12:24 in the first period. The Voyageurs scored again seconds later, with another goal at 11:55 to make the score 2-0. When the first period onslaught was through, the Cyclones found themselves trailing 4-0.

Rainy River started the second period much like the first, and scored almost instantly off the face-off at 15:41. They maintained puck control for much of the game to score twice more, and increase their lead to 7-0 over the Cyclones, allowing Iowa State only six shots on net.

“We spent a lot of time in our defensive zone instead of at their end of the rink,” head coach Joe McCarron said. “They [RRCC] came out stronger and wanted the puck more than we did [Sunday].”

Playing into the Cyclones tough loss Sunday was the overconfidence gained from Saturday’s upset, a 2-0 shutout of Rainy River.

“We came in overconfident this morning and started the game really slow,” McCarron said. “We thought everything in the game was going to go our way and that definitely wasn’t the case.”

After a scoreless first period Saturday, Iowa State controlled the second period. After many shot attempts, the Cyclones were finally able to find the net, with an impressive goal from Dominique Lind.

At 3:33 left in the period, Lind intercepted a pass and skated hard towards the goal, beating two defenders and finally pulling back on the puck to fake out the goalie and put it on net. The Cyclones closed the period ahead of Rainy River, 1-0.

Iowa State entered the third period with the same intensity as the second. Scoring off a rebound, Andrea Schippers converted a goal at 12:02 to increase the Cyclones lead to 2-0.

The Cyclones continued to play well defensively, and Faulds had another outstanding game in the net, saving 46 shots, and earning a shut out.

“She’s [Faulds] been the backbone of our team and comes out and plays her heart out,” assistant coach Alex Butera. “She always gives us the chance to win.”

Faulds ended the weekend with an incredible 99 saves, recording 53 on Sunday and 46 on Saturday.