What started right went wrong last night for the ISU women’s soccer team at the ISU Soccer Complex.

In a 4-2 loss to Drake, the Cyclones (0-2) lost an early lead and paid for their mistakes. Playing through pouring rain, Iowa State out shot, and in many respects, outplayed the Bulldogs, but was outscored in their home opener.

“We have some teaching to do and we have to make some corrections,” said coach Rebecca Hornbacher. “We have to have better defensive shape so that we don’t have a breakdown.”

Coming off a 9-0 loss to fifth-ranked Notre Dame in their season opener, the Cyclones opened up the scoring just 10 minutes into play. Sophomore Leslie Hill took a clearing pass from junior Erin Witte up the left side of the field and past a defender all the way to the Drake endline.

Hill crossed the ball to junior Brittanie Waddell, who deposited it into the net.

Drake (1-1) answered just six minutes later with a goal of its own off three passes inside the box. After carrying a tie into halftime, the Cyclones fell behind 3-1. Bulldog freshman Melissa Lewis poked in a goal during a scramble in the box in the 57th minute, then freshman Elizabeth Woerle hit a rocket from outside the box 12 minutes later.

ISU freshman Amanda Nimtz knocked in a corner kick with just more than 20 minutes left in the contest to pull the score within one. Thirty seconds later, Woerle picked up a ball at midfield, dribbling past a challenge by goalkeeper Ann Gleason and scoring on an empty net.

All four Bulldog goals came on counter-attacks. The Cyclones outshot Drake, 16-10, and had nine corner kicks – eight more than their guests.

With a little fixing, Witte thinks Friday’s game at Minnesota could go differently.

“It’s just the little things that need to click with our team,” Witte said. “A lot of counter-attacks that they had that were goals, it was just the littlest thing . Hopefully, next game we can do things differently and come out with a win. Hopefully, because it kind of sucks today.”

Hornbacher was confident that the game was fixable.

“If it was a matter of effort or something, I would be concerned,” Hornbacher said. “Rain wasn’t a factor. The Notre Dame loss wasn’t a factor. We made some mistakes, and they were the better team.”