The Iowa State soccer team split a weekend of conference play at home, defeating the Texas Tech Red Raiders on Friday and losing to Baylor on Sunday.

Friday’s victory was the team’s first conference win of the season, and now the Cyclones are 1-5 in the Big 12, and are 4-6 overall.

In Friday’s game, the Cyclones spent much of the first half attempting to keep the Red Raiders from scoring. However, late in the first half, Texas Tech put one shot in.

The Cyclones wasted no time answering the goal with a point of their own at the 37-minute mark, courtesy of sophomore Liz Salih. The Red Raiders again returned to the ISU goal box and punched in another to take a 2-1 halftime advantage over the Cyclones.

After the mid-game break, the Cyclones came back and dominated, scoring three goals en route to the team’s first-ever conference victory.

At 54:18, the first of the second-half goals came from ISU senior Dawn Weber.

Sophomore Lindsey Rector followed with a tally at 68:13, and freshman Brittany Hull scored the game’s final goal at the 76-minute mark.

The Cyclones came out on top with a score of 4-2.

ISU Coach Cathy Klein credited the reserve players with the win against Texas Tech, noting that Salih and freshman Jessica Willey and Megheen Walker were big contributors. It was Walker’s first appearance of the season.

“Our reserves had a brilliant week at practice, and their play allowed us to win the game,” Klein said.

On Sunday, ISU faced the nationally-ranked Baylor Bears. Baylor proved to be too much for the Cyclones, winning 2-0.

Klein said the game was hard-fought, and the team gave the best 90 minutes of effort so far this season.

She said a few “critical mistakes” allowed Baylor the win.

“Anytime you have the opportunity to defeat a top-ranked team in the nation and don’t, it is disappointing,” she said.

At halftime, the Cyclones trailed the Bears 1-0 and gave up an early goal at 52:51 in the second half to seal the team’s fate.

Sophomore goalkeeper Hayley Mercer played the full 90 minutes of the game, recording seven saves. Baylor outshot ISU, 13-3.

Rector said the team made some “dumb mistakes, on which Baylor happened to score.” She also said that Sunday’s game will give the team added momentum they need for next weekend.

Klein said freshman Nikki Carter and Krista Odenwald and sophomore Barb Lavergne “played their hearts out” in Sunday’s early afternoon match.

Carter said the women gave a great effort, but had the potential to beat Baylor.

“We came into the game nervous, but the last goal [scored by Baylor] broke us,” she said.

Carter said playing well, only to lose against Baylor, will make the team better.

“Next weekend we will play the exact same as today, and we will pull out those wins,” she said.

The Cyclones stay home next weekend to host Kansas at 4 p.m. on Friday. The team also faces Missouri at 1 p.m. on Sunday. Both games will be played at the ISU Soccer Complex.