Another season is on the horizon for the ISU women’s soccer team, and this year there are fewer question marks looming on the field. Last season, the relatively unproven Cyclones raised some eyebrows by making the Big 12 tournament, and with multiple returning players this season, the team hopes to continue its ascension.

Seniors Kristina Baumann, Amy Flores and Deb Benakis said the team hopes to build on the success of last year. Sophomore goalie Joanna Haig, who was recently voted to the preseason all-Big 12 team, leads the charge on defense.

Head coach Rebecca Hornbacher said the team has been playing well together so far this fall.

“Preseason’s been going very well,” she said. “We’ve had a lot of great intensity and the attitude is very positive. The team is really looking forward to achieving things we haven’t achieved in the past and they’re very focused right now.”

“We’ve all been training hard for the past couple of weeks,” she said. “We have some great new freshmen coming in to help our team out.”

The team is young with seven of its 10 top returners sophomores or juniors. They lost only four starters and brought back seven.

“Young team, but that’s good,” Baumann said. “There’s a lot of energy, and I think everyone’s got the same goal in mind.”

In an effort to reach that goal, Benakis said the seniors have learned from the seniors of the past, while still trying to implement strategies of their own.

“I think all of [the seniors] have grown a lot, and we’re just kind of doing things that the seniors we’ve seen before us did,” she said. “We know what’s going on, we’ve been here for four years. We know what to expect; we know what’s coming next.”

Haig, who last season at this time was unsure even if she would be starting in the goal, has become a young leader on the team. She said the team has meshed well together throughout its training.

She also said one of the biggest assets to the team is its seniors. Baumann, Benakis and Flores combined for eight goals and 70 shots last season. Flores scored four goals on 19 shots, and Baumann scored four on 42 shots. Benakis logged 19 shots last year.

The three of them played in all 20 games last season.

“All of them work hard every single day, they’re really leaders by example type people,” Haig said. “They really just go out there and work as hard as they can every minute of every practice.

“They’re great role models for all of us.”

Hoping to build on last season’s eight wins — the team’s most since 1999 — the Cyclones open up season play Friday at Mississippi State, and then play Sunday at Mississippi.

“They’re ready to play, they’re hungry to play,” Hornbacher said. “They have been training since the season was finished last year for this moment, for this opportunity right now for them to be able to prove something within our conference and on a national level.”