Soon after last Sunday’s double-overtime win over Nebraska, coach Rebecca Hornbacher told the ISU women’s soccer team to remember last year’s win over Texas A&M.

A miracle goal with 12 seconds left led to a landmark victory over the eventual Big 12 champions, giving the Cyclones their biggest win of the season. Two days later, they responded with a 2-1 letdown against conference bottom-dweller Baylor.

Iowa State finished the season in a tie for second-place in the conference standings, one win behind Texas A&M.

With another showdown against Baylor in Waco, Texas, on Friday, the Cyclones (5-6, 1-0 Big 12) have learned better than to look past the Bears (3-6-1, 0-2). Iowa State will fly home and face Texas Tech (4-6, 0-2) on Sunday afternoon.

Junior Erin Witte admitted last year’s team lost focus.

“We were unprepared,” Witte said. “We were just not on our toes to begin with. We are definitely going to look back on that and learn from our mistakes. We underestimated them, and it is definitely not going to happen again this year.”

Junior Brittanie Waddell said there is a different attitude this season.

“We basically think now, ‘Don’t take Baylor lightly,'” Waddell said. “Last year, we had a fluke loss that wasn’t good. All of us were really mad . We’ve been training all week for them our whole focus is on Baylor.”

Now facing the soft section of the schedule, Iowa State has a golden opportunity to get off to a quick start in Big 12 play. A strange travel arrangement will be working against them, but momentum and confidence is back on the team’s side after the win over the Cornhuskers.

The Cyclones scored in the last minute of regulation and won with 21 seconds left in double-overtime to beat Nebraska, one of the conference front-runners.

Baylor and Texas Tech were picked as the two worst teams in the Big 12 coaches’ poll at the beginning of the season, but Hornbacher isn’t ready to chalk up two wins just yet.

She pointed that, similar to the up Cyclones, both the Bears and Red Raiders feature a wealth of new players.

“I think that added confidence boost we got from [the Nebraska game] will definitely carry us into the following games,” Hornbacher said. “Our team will know what they are capable of achieving when there is a lot of pressure, and there is something on the line.”

Hornbacher said playing in Waco is a disadvantage. As far as the weekend road/home split, she said the Cyclones will have to maintain their focus.

“I think the scheduling in the conference is kind of whacked, but there’s really not much we can do about it,” Hornbacher said. “There are an odd number of teams in our conference, so the scheduling sometimes is a little different. We go down to A&M again this year instead of them coming to us, and there are some teams that come up here again.

“I think Texas Tech might be in town in Ames before we are, because we have to fly back and get up early in the morning.”

Waddell is hoping the Cyclones can maintain their intensity.

“We played awesome against Nebraska,” Waddell said. “So I hope we carry through and play like we did against them, and then we’ll have two more wins.”