The dust has settled on this year’s Cyclone soccer season, seeing the Cyclones finish with a 5-11-2 overall record and a berth in the Big 12 Conference Tournament.

While their record definitely won’t impress too many people, many Cyclone players are excited about what the future could have in store.

“I don’t think our record reflects our season properly,” Nicole Wilcox said.

The senior forward said the Cyclones played a lot of quality teams early on, before the team had much experience. Wilcox said while playing tough teams may have hurt their record, it helped the team.

“It was what we needed to improve,” she said. “It helped us later on in the season.”

The Cyclones were able to draw upon that experience to help them win crucial games against Colorado and Texas Tech late in the season, earning them a spot in the Big 12 tournament in San Antonio.

Throughout the season, the Cyclones said its major goal was to make the Tournament. They last qualified in 1999.

The Cyclones’ appearance in the tournament was short and sweet. The eighth-seeded Cyclones lost to the top-seeded Texas Longhorns 6-0 in the first round of the tournament.

For Wilcox and the rest of the team, it was less about doing well in the tournament and more about making it there.

“It was very disappointing. It was a little embarrassing because of the score,” she said. But Wilcox said the fact that such a young team was able to make it to the tournament in the first place “was huge.”

“Now we know we can do it,” she said. “It’s something we know we can attain … Instead of trying to get there, we’ll work on doing something when we’re there. We know we deserve to be there as much as any other team.”

Tournament experience will be especially valuable for the nine freshmen on the team.

Rather than sit the bench like many freshmen, quite a few first-year Cyclones saw serious playing time this year. Five to six freshmen were starters.

Karen Hasselman, a freshman goalkeeper from Broken Arrow, Okla., said she is looking forward to next season after learning a lot in her first year.

“There is still a lot of room to improve, and it gives us a place to start,” she said.

Hasselman’s play in her first season leaves little need for improvement. She was second in the Big 12 in saves per game (5.53) and tied for third in shutouts (4).

Freshman midfielder Nikki Gamble was another freshman standout for the Cyclones.

“Most of the players on the field [for the Cyclones] were freshmen and sophomores,” she said. Next year, with another year under our belt, I think we’ll do a lot better.”