After ending the regular season in a bit of a slump, the Iowa State women’s soccer team advanced to the semifinals of the Big 12 tournament with a stunning first round upset of 10th-ranked Texas A&M.

After a scoreless regulation period and two scoreless overtime periods, the Cyclones and Aggies were forced to decide the game in a shoot-out.

This marked the first ever Big 12-tournament game decided by penalty kicks.

Ali Sullivan and Katie Antongiovanni both connected on their shots to tie ISU and A&M at two apiece. But after a Cyclone miss and two more Aggie goals, ISU found itself in the hole by two scores.

But sophomore goalkeeper Lynley Hilligoss showed why she is one of the brightest young keepers in the conference by making two straight saves.

This allowed Lindsey Rector and Angie Portincaso to score, evening the shoot-out at four.

“Basically, I just told myself to take them one at a time,” Hilligoss said of her shoot-out heroics. “I was just concentrating on my team and my coaches and myself. When I saved both of them, it was incredible.”

“Lynley is a great goalkeeper, and we knew that all she had to do was make one save and we would have to capitalize on our opportunities,” Erica Florez said.

That set the stage for junior Krista Odenwald to score the game-winning goal and put the Cyclones into the semifinals.

Hilligoss not only came up big in the shoot-out but throughout the entire match.

She recorded eight saves in the match, including three in the second overtime period.

Both teams managed to get a number of shots off. ISU took 14, while the Aggies launched 19 shots.

“That was the best moment of the season. I think by beating A&M we got respect from all the teams. You know what, Iowa State is up there,” Hilligoss said.

ISU’s semifinal match would be against 25th-rated Missouri, who beat Iowa State 4-3 in its regular season match-up in Ames.

Missouri would strike first 34 minutes into the match. Erin Grimsley connected on a shot from eight yards out to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead.

ISU freshmen midfielder Katie Antongiovanni volleyed a shot from 15 yards out in the 74th minute to tie the score at one.

But like the regular season match, ISU fell just short again. Nikke Thole scored the game-winning goal in the 82nd minute, and Missouri was able to hold on for a 2-1 victory.

This game also resembled the teams’ regular season match in that it was very rough.

ISU committed 19 fouls in the match, and Missouri was guilty of 24 fouls.

Missouri’s shot total of seven was almost doubled by ISU who took 13 shots.

But like so many other times this year, the Cyclones couldn’t convert at crucial times.

Exhaustion also played a key role in the match for the Cyclones. Just one day earlier, they played for 120 minutes against Texas A&M.

“They just outlasted us. We were just physically drained from our first game.”

The loss ended the season at 11-8-1 overall for ISU and gave Missouri a 14-6-1 record. Missouri would go on to lose 2-1 to Nebraska in the championship game.

It might have been the Cyclones who made the biggest wave during the tournament though.

Some were calling ISU the most exciting team to watch after its huge first round upset.

“We were the talk of the tournament,” Hilligoss said. “People were telling us that it was the most exciting game they had seen in a long while, and it was nice to have people congratulating us.”

The Cyclones placed three players on the all-tournament team. Those players were Hilligoss, Antongiovanni and Florez. Florez was also named Big 12 Conference offensive MVP.

“That was exciting for the team,” Antongiovanni said of the all tournament selections. “It is just an incentive for us to go back there and do better next time.”

“I was surprised actually, just because of teams like Nebraska and Texas A&M. But all three of us made it and that’s great,” Hilligoss added.

The Cyclones will lose five seniors, including Alicia Rollison and Lindsey Rector, but a strong nucleus will return next year for ISU.

Hilligoss has high expectations for next season.

“Hopefully next year we can add some more wins and be as successful or more successful than this season.”