Team travels Midwest looking for win
August 31, 2006
During the next two weekends, the ISU women’s soccer team will travel the Midwest in search of its first win of the season.
Starting a four-game road trip, the Cyclones (0-2) hope to find it under the lights in Minneapolis on Friday night. Iowa State will play the Minnesota Golden Gophers (2-0) at 7 p.m. on the Gophers’ home turf to start the Big Ten-Big 12 Challenge, and will then face Northwestern (1-1) 1 p.m. Sunday in Evanston, Ill.
Coach Rebecca Hornbacher said she expects two physical contests from her opponents and improved field work from her team.
FASTTRAK
2006 ISU Women’s
Soccer Schedule
Date Opponent Time
Saturday Notre Dame 0 – 9 (L)
Monday Drake 2 – 4 (L)
Big 12/Big Ten Challenge
Sept. 1 Minnesota 7 p.m.
Sept. 3 Northwestern 1 p.m.
Diadora Classic
Sept. 8 Creighton 7 p.m.
Sept. 10 Northern Iowa 11 a.m.
Sept. 12 Iowa 7 p.m.
Colorado College Invitational
Sept. 15 Weber State 1:30 p.m. MST
Sept. 17 Colorado College 1:30 p.m. MST
Sept. 20 North Dakota State 7 p.m.
Sept. 24 Nebraska 1 p.m.
Sept. 29 Baylor 7 p.m.
Oct. 1 Texas Tech 1 p.m.
Oct. 6 Oklahoma State 7 p.m.
Oct. 8 Oklahoma 1 p.m.
Oct. 13 Kansas 7 p.m.
Oct. 15 Colorado 1 p.m.
Oct. 20 Texas A&M 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 22 Texas noon
Oct. 27 Missouri 7 p.m.
Nov. 1 to Nov. 5 – Big 12 Championships at
San Antonio, Texas
Nov. 10 to Dec. 3 – NCAA Women’s Soccer Championship
at Cary, NC
*Bold indicates home game
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“It’s going to be important that we walk away with a win this weekend,” Hornbacher said. “We’ve made adjustments and gone through some video. We just need to make sure we do the little things correctly and play hard as a team and keep our focus.”
The nonconference schedule is for growth and experience, and after a 4-2 loss to Drake on Monday, the Cyclones have had three days of instruction and correction in practice. Hornbacher said that she wasn’t worried about the outcome of that game and that the team addressed the mistakes that caused the loss.
Sophomore forward Leslie Hill trusts the Cyclones defense.
“Our defense is solid,” Hill said. “There is always going to be mistakes that are going to happen, no matter if it’s from the front or the back. We have faith in our defense.”
The defense will be challenged by an upstart Minnesota team that brought back four of its top five scorers from last season.
Another offensive threat – one all too familiar to the Cyclones – will be suiting up for Minnesota. Renee de St. Aubin, a junior, transferred to her home state from Iowa State during the offseason. She scored six goals, second best on the team, for Iowa State in 2006.
Hornbacher expects a tough game from the team’s first opponent.
“They are an extremely physical team,” Hornbacher said. “We know they have some skillful, fast forwards up top, so we are going to do what we need to contain them, and they are good ball winners. The overall physicality of the game is going to be at a high level.”
The Cyclones also expect an intense, physical game with Northwestern, which brings back all but one starter from a 9-9-1 season.
“This is preparation for the Big 12 season,” Hill said. “These are the games that are going to help us down the line.”
Northwestern reinstated its soccer program in June after a hazing scandal that earned national headlines caused university to suspend it. The incident stemmed from a Web site showing pictures of Wildcat team members, according to ESPN.com, “in T-shirts and underwear, some wearing blindfolds and others with their hands tied behind their backs. Other women had words or pictures scrawled on their bodies and clothes, and it appeared some were drinking alcohol.”
Other soccer resources from ISD:
Soccer team will conduct open tryouts
Cyclones hope freshman will help fill void
Cyclone women’s soccer team roster
Soccer team opens season with tough test on the road
ISU soccer team takes a beating, defeated by the Fighting Irish
