The ISU women’s soccer team has never won a game in the Big 12 tournament, but that doesn’t limit their thinking.

“Our focus is to win the conference title,” said coach Rebecca Hornbacher.

“Right now we are here to win it all. Wins in the tournament will also put us in a great position [to make the NCAA tournament], but we are looking to play through Sunday, and that is what I am focusing on.”

Hornbacher was honored as the Big 12’s Coach of the Year on Monday – the first such honor for a coach in ISU soccer history – and will look for her third-seeded Cyclones (11-5-3) to exact revenge tonight against Texas (10-7-1).

Sophomore goalkeeper Joanna Haig was the only Cyclone player to be recognized, as she was voted to the all-Big 12 second team after setting a single-season record for shutouts with 7 and tying the all-time mark for wins with 19 in only her second season.

“It was great to get an award for at least some representation for our team,” Haig said.

“We are all playing for each other.”

Ironically, it was a loss to the Longhorns three weeks ago that seemed to snap Iowa State into postseason form.

After the 2-1 setback, the Cyclones responded by winning all three remaining games on their schedule, outscoring their opponents 9-1 and finishing in a tie for second in the conference with Colorado.

Now, the Cyclones get another chance to prove their standing.

The ISU women’s soccer team’s all-time record in the Big 12 Tournament is 0-6-1, having tied and won in a shootout in 1999. To senior Amy Flores, it is the team’s immediate priority to break into the tournament win column.

The Cyclones are 1-11 historically against Texas.

“We are glad to get another chance to play [Texas]; they are a great team,” Flores said. “The postseason is crazy. You play every game as hard has you can because who knows what is going to happen.”

The Longhorns scored with 15 seconds left in the first half of this year’s meeting, a crucial goal in an evenly matched game. Flores scored to bring it to 2-1 midway through the second half, but repeated attempts to tie were fruitless in the closing minutes.

Hornbacher and her players recognized the lapse, as well as a lack of intensity to start that game, both of which are unacceptable in the postseason, Hornbacher said.

“The big thing against Texas was that we played well against them, but only for periods of time,” Hornbacher said.

“We had some mental mistakes and didn’t come out strong and let them get ahead 2-0 and then we didn’t have enough time to tie it up.”

The lessons have been learned.

“We learned something from that and our team feels confident coming into this game that we will come out strong.”

The tournament, which begins Wednesday, is taking place in San Antonio, with the Cyclones kicking off their game against Texas at 7:30 p.m. The winner will take on the winner of the 5:30 p.m. Colorado-Oklahoma match, which is Friday at 6:30 p.m.