The newness has worn off the Iowa State women’s soccer team.

Coach Cathy Klein’s squad finished a 5-7 record last year. This despite the fact that a majority of the team members were freshmen who were not recruited.

“Obviously we were excited about last season,” Klein said. “It will be even more fun this year to see how well we can be when the experienced players from last year play alongside some of the players we have brought in.”

One of the new players Klein spoke specifically about is freshman Barb Lavergne. She is a member of Canada’s national under-20 team.

Lavergne’s arrival made it possible for Jocelyn Nordstrom, one of the team’s top scorers from last season, to switch from forward to defender. This is somewhat surprising considering the defense was a strong point of the team last season.

“Jocelyn is very tenacious and is one of our fastest players,” Klein said. “We moved her to counteract the speed some of the teams in the Big 12 have.”

Klein, who was head coach at national power Creighton before coming to Iowa State, said she was impressed with this year’s recruiting class. The class includes Lavergne and Florida International transfer Jo Hincks among others. Klein said Lavergne and Hincks are expected to start at the forward positions.

“This is the best recruiting class I have ever had, and that includes the time I was at Creighton,” Klein said.

Co-captain Tawnya Miller said the team will be looking to open up the offense. Last season, the Cyclones relied on a strong defense to slow down their opponent’s tempo and limit opportunities for scoring plays.

“We are looking to be more of a scoring threat this year,” Miller said. “We still hope to have a strong defense, but we are going to speed things up on offense.”

Iowa State starts the season Sept. 30 at home against Westmar and then plays traditional-power Nebraska at home two days later.

“Everyone on the team is looking forward to taking on Nebraska at home,” Miller said. “They were the class of the Big Eight Conference.”

Iowa State’s team will begin its second year existence in the first year of the Big 12 Conference. “The Big 12 Conference will give us national exposure,” she said. Muser said she likes the challenge of the upcoming season.