If the ISU women’s soccer team wants to get into the middle of the pack of the Big 12 conference standings, they’ll have to start by winning Friday.

The Cyclones (3-5-3, 0-2-1 Big 12), host Kansas at 7 p.m. on Friday and Oklahoma State on Sunday at 1 p.m. Both games will be played at the ISU Soccer Complex.

Sophomore midfielder Deb Benakis, who has two goals on the season, said the team prepared good practices throughout the week.

“This weekend is going to be big for us,” Benakis said. “This week in practice was hard. Everybody came in with the right mentality.

“We’ve got to bounce back now. That’s what good about the fall season — you always have to go big again because you’ve got two more teams coming at you.”

After dropping their first two conference games, ISU tied with Oklahoma 2-2 in a double overtime thriller last Friday night.

ISU will be facing a Kansas team that tied Texas A&M 1-1 on Sunday. The Jayhawks are 9-3-1 overall and 1-2-1 in the conference.

Sophomore forward Caroline Smith leads Kansas in goals (11) and total points (24). Junior forward Rachel Gilfillan has six points, good for second on the team.

Saturday’s contest could be a hard challenge for ISU. Despite being ahead in the series with the Cowgirls for last five years, 3-0-2, Oklahoma State is 11-0-1 and 3-0-1. They have outscored their opponents 54-4 this season.

The Cowgirls had two players earning Big 12 Player of the Week honors on Tuesday. Forward Jolene Schweitzer was named on offense while goalkeeper Kathrin Lehmann earned defensive honors.

Schweitzer is second on the team in goals with nine. Adriane Radtke leads the Cowgirls with 12 goals. Nikki Wojtowicz leads the team with 14 assists.

Last season, the Cyclones defeated the Cowgirls 2-1 in Ames. Benakis scored the game-winning goal with three minutes left in regulation.

Despite have a 9-7 shots-on-goal advantage against Drake, head coach Rebecca Hornbacher said she was disappointed with how the Cyclones passed the ball in Sunday’s loss. She is hoping the team will improved on passing against Kansas and Oklahoma State.

“We had a hard time connecting on all of our passes [on Sunday],” Hornbacher said. “We didn’t get as many shots as we normally do. We have to respond to that.

“We have to learn that we can’t come out and play flat. We’ve got two huge games this weekend, and I’m hoping that the girls turn it around and realize that they need to do it for 90 minutes.”