Iowa State battled to its first Big 12 win Sunday with a 3-1 victory over No. 21 Oklahoma State.

The Cyclones (4-6-3) gave the Cowgirls (11-1-2) their first loss of the season. This win marks the first time in ISU soccer history that an unranked Cyclone team has defeated a ranked opponent.

“We needed this win,” said freshman forward Kate Kirwan, who had two goals and an assist. “We met one of our goals by beating a ranked team.”

Oklahoma State forward Jolene Schweitzer posted the first score of the day in the 36th minute. Iowa State replied only six minutes later when junior midfielder Alli Coleman kicked one into the upper right corner of the net. It was Coleman’s first career goal for Iowa State.

Coleman said the ball came in off the corner and got bounced around before she got a foot on it.

“I was at the right place at the right time,” Coleman said.

The goal was assisted by Kirwan. Kirwan tallied two unassisted goals in the second half. The first of Kirwan’s goals came off a penalty kick in the 59th minute of play.

With less than six minutes to play, Kirwan created an opportunity to score after the Cowgirl goalkeeper Kathrin Lehman left the goal box. Kirwan quickly put one through the net. She said the team put her in position and that players on both sides of the ball had a good effort.

“Today we came out hard expecting to win,” Kirwan said. “We played a full 90 minutes — offense and defense.”

The game was anything but easy for Iowa State and the game statistics proved it. The Sunday afternoon game included 36 fouls and eight cautions. Senior defender Lindsay Lees was cleated in the knee and did not play in the second half.

“[Lees] is a wounded soldier and she’s still out there fighting,” ISU head coach Rebecca Hornbacher said. “Our super-senior couldn’t go the second half, but she played a great first half. We’ll be taking care of her this week and hopefully she’ll be a go for next weekend.”

Hornbacher added that the Cyclones prepared for a physical games and they have to be ready to play hard in the Big 12.

“We want to be known as a team that’s going to be physical,” Hornbacher said. “They are prepared for that day in and day out because that’s the way they train — they beat up on each other in practice. When you come to the Big 12, most teams are very, very physical.”

After some lineup shuffling, senior defender Arlene Samuel did not start for the first time in her career at Iowa State. Hornbacher said Samuel came in and played solidly, but she wanted to take a look at a couple players and see what they could do.

Hornbacher said she wanted to see sophomore Kristina Baumann play on the outside and thought sophomore Amy Flores could provide a threat in the air.

“I think overall it was the most solid 90 minutes of soccer that our team has played this year,” Hornbacher said.

The Cyclones will make a trip to Texas on Friday to take on Big 12 No. 7 Texas A&M.