At the end of last Thursday’s ISU women’s hockey club practice, the team was anything but worn out.

Shrieks of joy followed a phone call from head coach Blake Marshall to captain Katie Dunn, informing her and the rest of the club that the team had earned a berth in the national tournament for the first time in club history.

“We were just hanging out after practice when Katie got the call,” said defender Erin Enger, sophomore in English.

“When we found out, we just started flipping out. It’s so exciting and unexpected.”

The Cyclones received the good news after recent losses to powerful Lindenwood dimmed hopes of a chance at competing in the tournament. The team snared a final ranking of 10th in the American Collegiate Hockey Association, earning it the No. 11 seed at nationals.

“We are ranked fifth in the west region, and of the top five teams, three are from the western or central area,” said assistant coach Mike Owen, professor of agronomy. “We played those three teams exclusively in home-and-away series, but were close in each of them.”

The tournament takes place March 19-21 in East Lansing, Mich. The club will play against Rhode Island in first-round competition, followed by West Los Angeles. Both teams are ranked in the top five.

The club became a member of the American Collegiate Hockey Association three years ago, a year after the women’s division was formed. For three seniors on the squad, this has been a hockey career goal and one pursued by the team the entire season.

After a shaky first semester, the Cyclones began to turn it around in the second term. Owen, despite running depleted lines of skaters with only two lines of offense, believes his players have a good shot in the tournament.

“We don’t have the numbers to play fancy hockey, just fundamentals. We need to put ourselves in the position to score and look to the other team to make some critical errors,” he said.

The team may not have the record of some of the national qualifiers, but consistent play and aggressive opponents have made them tougher, Owen said. When the enthusiastic group plays the way it can, anyone can be defeated, he said.

As for practicing, the destination ahead has upped the ante of future workouts.

“Practices are really getting down to business, and everything has picked up,” Enger said. “We’ve been kind of burnt out, so we’re only having two next week, but after that it’s every day until spring break. We need to brush up and get stuff concrete.”

Despite the great news, the team was faced with a looming problem in the form of $5,000 — the estimated cost of the trip. But for many it wasn’t a question whether the team would attend or not.

“We were a little bit worried about money at first, but we decided we are definitely going. After thinking we were out of the running and are now ranked 10th, there’s no way we’d miss it,” Enger said.

The cost for the bus and lodging will be brought up to the Sports Club Council, since it was not previously planned in the budget. With two final home games this weekend against Wisconsin-Whitewater, Owen hopes to see a nice crowd before spring break as a send off to his team.

“Our stick-to-it-ness and guts have made us a solid team with lots of tenacity,” he said. “These girls are extremely dedicated with good chemistry, and they just need a little luck on their side at nationals.”