They came. They saw. And while they might not have conquered every game, the first varsity women’s soccer team to burst onto Iowa State’s grassy fields proved themselves as a force to be reckoned with.

ISU’s soccer fans may have been a bit concerned when the women’s soccer team lost their season premier game to Queens, Canada, and then went on to lose three more games on the road. But there was no need for worry. The team bounced back quickly and ended up with an overall record of 5-7.

“After the first initial shock of playing Division I soccer was over, we settled down and competed with most of the programs we saw,” said head soccer coach Cathy Klein.

Although ISU’s record was less than .500 overall, they were 5-1 at home and 5-3 in the last half of their season.

“We definitely built towards a very positive ending,” Klein said.

Klein was the spark that started the fire for the Cyclone team. She came to Iowa State from a well-established soccer program at Creighton, but is enthusiastic about molding her three-month-old squad into a team with a winning tradition.

“We’ve got all the tools it requires to succeed. Whether it’s a brand new team or an established one, if they’re committed to fitness and strength training they are committed to excellence,” Klein said.

But Klein didn’t start completely from scratch. She had a couple of aces in her hand that she brought with her from Creighton. Lauren Muser, starting goalkeeper, followed Klein to Ames as well as Dawn Weber. The two are co-captains on the team.

Weber said starting out with a first-year team has its advantages over playing for a team that has been in progress for several years.

“One of the benefits was that it [the season] was what we made out of it. It was up to the team leaders to set the precedent, being a first-year program. We got to set the standards,” Weber said.

While the team faced the traditional roadblocks of starting up, such as getting uniforms and finding a field, Weber said the ISU staff was an enormous help in getting around them.

As a newborn team, they didn’t fare too bad, Weber said. Wyoming, also a first-year program, finished their season at 0-18.

“Overall we came out on top. We improved so much from day one,” she said.

According to Weber, the best game of the season was against Nebraska. Even though the Cyclones lost the game, they still played well.

Kim Heinzeller, the team’s sole senior, agreed the Husker game best illustrated the team’s improvement.

“We lost to them 4-0, but we played the best that we could’ve ever played,” Heinzeller said.

The players couldn’t help but notice the improvement throughout the season. Theresa Daniels, a player who participated on Iowa State’s club team last year and is now a varsity player, said the team had “come very far, and that was only with two or three months of practice.”

“We were a little further ahead than I anticipated,” Klein said.

With a little recruitment this spring, the team could get even stronger for next year, she said. For now, Klein is on the lookout for some pieces to the puzzle that will help represent ISU with integrity and pride.

Until next season, the team will continue their evolution into becoming “one of the finest programs in the country,” Klein said.