Iowa State women’s soccer Coach Cathy Klein said before the season that Nebraska is five goals better as a team than they were last season.

And while that statement is impossible to prove, Nebraska showed that it was six goals better than Iowa State on Sunday by handing the Cyclones a 6-0 loss at the ISU soccer field.

“Nebraska is really five goals better than where they were last year,” Klein said after Sunday’s game. “So while the score says one thing, I know without a maximal effort the score could have been double digits. They are that good.”

Iowa State held Nebraska scoreless for the first 41 minutes of the 90 minute game. Defenders Jocelyn Nordstrom and Dawn Weber, forward Jo Hinks and goalkeeper Lauren Muser all made miraculous plays to stop Nebraska from scoring during that time period.

Nebraska substitute Sharolta Nonen finally burst the Cyclone’s bubble with a 40-yard boomer that sailed over the head of Muser at the 42 minute mark.

It took Nebraska less than a minute to score their next goal. Kari Uppinghouse scored a goal off a corner kick feed from Jenny Benson to give the Cornhusker’s a 2-0 lead that they took into halftime.

“We knew that when you face great teams they are going to score goals in spurts,” Klein said. “We really felt that if we could get out of that first half at 0-0 we could play with them.”

Five freshman started for Iowa State against Nebraska Sunday. It was their first match against a NCAA Division I program after beating Westmar, 6-1, at home on Friday.

“We are very proud of holding a top-20 team scoreless for 42 minutes,” Klein said. “But our inexperience showed through in the last three minutes of the first half and the entire second half. They were bigger, stronger and faster at every position and in the course of 90 minutes it’s very difficult for an inexperienced team to weather that storm.”

Muser stopped 27 shots on goal by the Cornhuskers.

“Lauren played a great game,” Klein said. “She kept us in the game for a while.”

Forward Jo Hinks made quite an impression in her first game as a Cyclone, after transferring from Florida International University last season. She scored four goals in the victory over Westmar Friday.