Iowa State soccer wants to continue its positive trend in the first home game of the spring season against Grand View on Thursday.

The Cyclones started their spring slate with a tie and a win and gave up a total of zero goals on the weekend in Des Moines against Drake and Western Illinois. They played two shortened 30 minute games against Western Illinois, ending 0-0, and Drake, ending 1-0.

Head Coach Matt Fannon was excited about his team’s performances in the first games of the spring schedule.

“We were brilliant. We were absolutely everything I wanted us to be,” Fannon said. “We played a brand of soccer that made sense. People made good decisions.”

Fannon said the team created a lot of chances and said that in the 60 minutes of action, the Cyclones produced more chances than in any game since his arrival at Iowa State in Dec. 2019.

The win in their second game against in-state rival Drake was special for the team according to sophomore midfielder Hannah Shaw, who scored the only Cyclone goal of the weekend.

“Scoring a goal and beating Drake, I think that was a huge confidence boost for us because we lost to them in the fall,” Shaw said.

Sophomore forward Salomé Prat said that Sunday’s games were stressful because it was the first time playing against other teams. Prat said seeing the team’s performance and the results has given them a big confidence boost and started a trend that the Cyclones want to carry on in their other spring soccer games.

The match against Grand View will be the Cyclones first home game of the year. If the team is able to play well again, the fans will be really excited with what they see according to Fannon.

Freshman forward Magdalena Keck shares her excitement and hopes that the team will be fully focused.

“I hope we play well, and I’m confident that we will,” Keck said.

The team’s focus will be on implementing their style of soccer against Grand View. They already saw a lot of positive tendencies in the first two games but want to improve in the conversion of chances, Fannon said.

“The result isn’t something that we’re desperate for. That’s not the time of year it is,” Fannon said. “Once we get to the fall that will matter. So it’s about the performance and being able to follow the game plan.”

The team feels confident that the positive trends will continue not only during spring soccer, but also into the fall season.

The team has now been put together to play Fannon’s brand of soccer after a couple years of development. Moreover, it has developed a real fighter mentality, Prat said.

The next spring soccer games will give the Cyclones the possibility to showcase this mentality and confirm the positive trends.

The game against Grand View will kick off at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Cyclone Sports Complex.