A short-handed ISU men’s soccer club fought a battle with Wisconsin-La Crosse, the 2000 league champions, on Saturday and came away with a 1-1 tie.

Iowa State held the lead until the final two minutes when La Crosse scored on a deflected kick.

The Cyclones (3-0-1) got on the board first when Espen Mellingen scored.

Iowa State had several more shots on goal during the contest, but came away empty-handed. Jamie Murphy’s right side blast was tipped just over the top of the goal by the La Crosse goaltender. La Crosse survived another close call in the second half when Brad Ballard’s free kick hit the left upright.

The first half featured some breakout situations for La Crosse, but ISU goalie Greg Velasquez came up big for the Cyclones.

Afterwards, Velasquez gave credit to his teammates for getting back to cut off the angles.

“The defense really did well recovering on those long balls, especially with all that wind they had,” he said.

The second session was played mostly on the La Crosse half of the field as they put extreme pressure on the goal. Iowa State defended their goal until the deflection got past Velasquez.

“It was just lack of poise, lack of possession,” said Velasquez of the goal.

Head Coach Sandro Bassanini said he knew La Crosse’s strategy would be to chase the Cyclones in the second half. Playing on a smaller field made it difficult for Iowa State to spread it out and counter the attack.

Bassanini said the intramural field used by the club is thirty percent smaller than a regulation field, and is typically used for two teams of nine.

“We’re trying to put twenty-two college athletes in there,” he said. “There’s no room for us to maneuver.”

Bassanini also said that his team has been hit hard by injuries, forcing him to play people in some different positions.

“Out of the twenty-five guys, there’s eight of them injured,” he said.