Win or tie — that’s what the ISU women’s soccer team must do Friday as they take on Missouri at 2 p.m. at the ISU Soccer Complex. The Cyclones will do battle Sunday with Minnesota, also at 2 p.m., to close out the regular season.

But the first priority for head coach Rebecca Hornbacher and her team is to do battle with the Tigers. If the Cyclones win or tie, they will secure the last spot (No. 8 seed) in the Big 12 Tournament, which will take place on Nov. 6, 7 and 9 at Blossom Soccer Stadium in San Antonio.

Iowa State is currently 5-8-4 overall and 2-5-2 in Big 12 play.

“We’re going into it — we’re fighting for a win. It’s just really going to be a big game,” Hornbacher said. “Obviously, both teams are fighting for that last spot. I definitely anticipate a very intense, physical battle for 90 minutes.

“Missouri is going to be a tough team. We know that they have a lot of dynamic players and they’re going to come out ready to battle because they’re fighting for the same thing we are.”

Sophomore forward Amy Flores, who scored the game-tying goal late in regulation against Baylor, said the team is playing well heading into Friday’s matchup with Missouri.

“We feel confident on how well we’re playing right now,” Flores said. “It’s a big game, but it’s just like any other game. We’re just going to go out there and play as hard as we can, play our style of soccer and we’ll be fine.”

Missouri, which is 8-9-1 overall and 2-6-1 in Big 12 play, dropped a 3-1 decision to Texas Tech on Sunday. Jennifer Nobis leads the Tigers’ offense with 20 points and has seven goals on the season. Kristen Heil leads the team with eight goals.

With high expectations to finish strong in the conference, Hornbacher credits the tough competition of all of the teams.

“Our conference is very, very strong and there’s been six teams that have been in and out of the top-20 polls or have received votes [toward] being ranked throughout our Big 12 Conference season,” Hornbacher said. “Many of the teams in the Big 12 have been ranked when we played them.

“For the first time in three or four years, we’ve beaten a ranked team and we also tied Oklahoma and we beat Oklahoma State. I think those are marks for showing that we can compete with teams in our conference, whether they’re ranked or not.”

On Friday, Missouri will try to figure out how to get past ISU senior goalkeeper Beth Chapman. Chapman was named Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week this week.

“It was definitely a team effort getting that award,” Chapman said. “I wouldn’t have been able to do anything without the people in front of me.”

Flores said the Cyclones were pleased with last weekend’s results. “It’s good that we can take control of our own destiny. It would’ve been nice to come off that weekend with two wins,” Flores said. “We played hard and put ourselves in a position to control our own future. If we win, we go to Texas.”

With the Cyclones closing out the season with two home games, Hornbacher hopes that everyone will come out to support the team.

“[The] Friday afternoon game, hopefully we’ll be able to get some people at the game and realize it’s a huge game for the program,” Hornbacher said.

“Maybe when people get out of class, they can come out to the soccer field. I definitely think it’s going to be a great environment for the game on Friday afternoon.”