Lost in the limelight of a 2-0 start for the football program is the soccer team.

While most of the athletic hype has surrounded its success against Iowa, the women’s soccer team has chalked up five straight wins, and for the first time in Iowa State soccer history, the team is nationally ranked in the top 25, debuting just ahead of Virginia at No. 24.

So, why the sudden rise to stardom?

Well, it might have something to do with the fact that ISU put together a nationally recognized recruiting class and is starting six freshman.

“It’s quite surprising,” said assistant coach Melissa Estrada.

“I didn’t think that they’d have such a big impact so soon. But this group of girls are so mentally tough, and they’re just really strong players.”

Estrada is in her fourth season with the team and has been a big part of the recruiting success.

Megan DiGiacomo was just one of the talented female athletes who Estrada helped pull into the program.

“I was at a tournament last October in D.C.,” DiGiacomo said.

“Melissa was out there and met with me. She invited me to come out and visit the school. I really liked ISU when I came out, and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to live out in this area of the country since I never had.”

The impact on the team by the freshman class is apparent just by looking at last week’s Big 12 Player of the Week, Katie Antongiovanni.

Antongiovanni, who hails from Bakersfield, Calif., sealed victory for the team twice last weekend by scoring game-winning goals against No. 22 Minnesota and in-state rival Iowa.

“It was extremely exciting to score the goals because they were my first two goals of the year,” Antongiovanni said of her big weekend.

“The real excitement came from the goals — not from getting the player of the week — but it was nice to be recognized for my effort.”

Another freshman who has had a deep impact recently is Annie Henley.

Henley scored four goals in one game two weekends ago against Ball State.

“I’m just trying to go out and do my job for the team,” Henley said. “I try to do my part, but we’re strong all over the field.”

Henley comes to ISU from Overland Park, Kan., where she was selected as the Eastern Kansas League Offensive Player of the Year as a senior; a season in which she led her team in scoring with 50 points.

The freshman class doesn’t just supply the team with offensive power. Tiffany Belz, Lauren Sims, Angie Portincaso and Lindsey Lees have all seen starting roles in a defensive juggernaut that has allowed fewer than 10 shots per game and helped the Cyclones blank four of the six opponents they’ve faced this year.

Belz, a resident of Ames, plays the role as of hometown hero.

“It’s kind of nice because I can help everyone out getting around Ames and because I know a lot of people here,” she said.

“Me being on the team also gets people out to the games because of my family and friends bringing people to the games.”

Sims joins the Cyclones after helping her club team, the Sting, win four state championships back in Plano, Texas. But there’s nothing “plan-o” about Sims.

“I fell in love with Iowa State after my campus visit here,” Sims said.

“I went back home and told my mom that this was definitely the school for me.”

Portiscano joins the team after leading her high school team to the Colorado state championship during her senior year.

She also played on the Colorado Olympic Development Team. She sees the team really going places this year.

“We still have to qualify for the Big 12 Tournament. But hopefully, we’ll be able to get there and pull a couple of upsets.”

Lees, also from Colorado, provides depth to the defensive side of the ball.

She led her Colorado Rush Nike club team to national championships in ’98 and ’99.

“I came to ISU because of the coaches, the girls on the team, and, mainly, for academics. ISU was a perfect fit for me,” Lees said.

Rounding out the talented group of newcomers is Sarah Gossman, who traveled from her hometown of Woodbury, Minn., to add to an already potent youth movement.

She gives the team a touch of toughness. She played rugby for her high school.

The Cyclones will be putting their national ranking and five-game winning streak on the line this weekend playing at Vanderbilt today and Tennessee on Sunday.

“I think we’ll do awesome,” Gossman said.

“It will be a challenge, but I think the coaches have prepared us well for it.”

The games have the potential for furthering the dream season and the team’s national ranking.

“If we come away with two wins this weekend, it will make a lot more people pay a lot more attention,” Estrada said.

“Teams like Stanford and Santa Clara are going to start asking ‘Where did this Iowa State team come from?'”

For Sims, this weekend’s forecast has already been made.

“We’re gonna beat ’em. No doubt about it!” she said.

The 1999 Cyclone soccer team is already busy rewriting the history books — Big 12 players of the year, five-game winning streaks and four- goal games.

The question remains: How far will the new blood injected into the team this year take the lady kickers?