Even though it has been a rocky season for the ISU soccer team, the Cyclones still have a chance at achieving their goal of making the Big 12 Conference Tournament.

But with only three conference games left, the Cyclones don’t stand to make the tournament unless they start winning … and scoring.

The Cyclones (3-8-2, 1-4-2) will need at least one more conference win to catch Oklahoma State (7-7-1, 2-4-1) to earn the eighth and final ticket to San Antonio.

This weekend, Iowa State could see their best chance to make up some ground. They host conference rivals Texas Tech (4-12-0, 0-7-0) today and Colorado (2-10-1, 0-6-1) on Sunday.

“I expect it to be a battle,” head coach Stephanie Gabbert said. “They haven’t won a lot games – well neither have we. They’ve had respectable scores within the conference too, so I think that it will be a pretty even matchup.”

Going into this weekend’s key matches, the Cyclones face the same old problem: you can’t win if you don’t score. Texas Tech is coming off a 6-1 win against Stephen F. Austin. The Cyclones haven’t scored more than four goals in a match all season, and they have scored only three goals since Sept. 30.

“We definately have to play well to win,” sophomore forward Nicole Wilcox said. “We have a lot of confidence, but we can’t go out and take these teams for granted.”

Without a dominating offense, the pressure could shift to the Cyclone defense to keep it close. Defense has been a positve aspect of the Cyclones’ play of late, thanks in part to the stellar play of freshman goalkeepr Karen Hasselman.

“As a goalkeeper, I have to be ready for anything,” she said. “I try to enter every game as it’s the most important game I’ll play, so this game is just as important as last week’s games were to me.”

Hasselman’s play last week earned her a spot on the “Soccer Buzz Magazine” Elite Team for the week of Oct. 14-21. The publication only recognizes one goalkeeper per week.

Last weekend against Oklahoma, Hasselman blanked the Sooners in a 0-0 tie, tallying a career high 12 saves. She followed that effort by allowing only one goal and saving eight shots in a 1-1 tie with Oklahoma State.

“I just think it lets me see how much I’ve improved from the first game till now,” she said. “There has been a lot of things that I didn’t know. My goal is to improve each time I’ve been out on the field.”

Hasselman will have more to deal with than the opposing offense this weekend. With the weather forcasted as cold and windy, Hasselman said it could get interesting.

“You have to be ready for anything,” she said. “And that means you have to be ready to step up, and the players around me, my teammates, have to be ready to step up. Together, as a team, that’s how we’re gonna do well.”