First game jitters and lack of shots proved to be the difference in the ISU Women’s Hockey Club opening weekend with a 10-0 loss Saturday night and a 13-0 setback Sunday in its first contests of the season against Robert Morris College of Chicago.

“This Robert Morris team is probably the best team we will play all year,” said coach Blake Marshall. “They have a lot of talented skaters — they are just basically just short of being a Division I team.”

Marshall said the experience factor may have been the difference.

“They have already played eight games, and this was our first,” Marshall said.

Assistant coach Mike Owen said that Iowa State will play against easier teams than the Robert Morris Eagles during the season.

“They basically have loaded up with the excellent recruiting they have,” Owen said. “We will not see this level of competition until we get back to nationals.”

Robert Morris dismantled the Cyclones in the first game by a score of 10-0, behind three goals apiece by Ashley Boye and Leah Johnson.

ISU goalie Justine Skibbe kept busy on the net with 38 saves but gave up five goals in the third period.

Club President Mandy Reverts said the team needs to play a whole game.

“[The game] did not go as good as we hoped,” Reverts said. “We started playing very strong and ended up quitting at the end.”

Marshall said the strong first period was followed by a poor finish.

“Our strongest point was especially in the first period,” Marshall said. “We had one letdown that led to a couple of quick goals.”

Owen said he saw some good things during the first game of the season.

“We had a couple of very good shifts. We basically had them on their heels, but just couldn’t sustain it,” Owen said. “It’s a new season, and we have a lot of new players that aren’t comfortable in our system.”

The second game of the year did not go much better than the season opener.

Robert Morris took the match for a 13-0 victory. The Eagles were again led in scoring by Boye and Johnson.

Skibbe was kept busy with 41 saves on 54 shots from Robert Morris, compared to only five shots taken by Iowa State.

Owen said the five shots were the most disappointing part for the Cyclones.

“That is one of the things we need to work on in practice,” Owen said. “We have to control the puck in the zone.”

Owen said despite the larger loss margin, the women played better on Sunday.

“We played more aggressive, we played the body a lot better and we didn’t panic,” Owen said.

Forward Andrea Schippers said the score did not reflect how well they played.

“We played a lot harder than [Saturday] night, since we now know what to expect,” Schippers said.

“We know that we need to skate harder and learn what we need to do to pick up our lines.”