The Iowa State women’s soccer team finished its first season on Saturday at home with a win over Central Missouri State, but the Cyclones’ shining 3-1 success was slightly tarnished by a fight to the finish.

With less than two minutes left in the second half, Jocelyn Nordstrom and a Central Missouri State player were ejected from the game after they got into a fighting match on the field. The flare-up was a climactic end to a game of thrown elbows and shoulders.

ISU assistant coach Jeff Gruber hoped the incident didn’t overshadow the Cyclones’ entire game.

“When the game gets squirrelly you have to stick together,” he said.

Gruber didn’t dwell on the subject, but rather talked about the team’s improvement from the beginning of the season.

“We’ve pulled it together and done some nice things,” he said. “After our first four losses we really picked it up.”

The newborn ISU team ended its season with a 5-7 overall record, and this last game was a demonstration of the team’s growth.

“It was a really positive end to a strong season. It was good to end with a win,” said co-captain and starting goalie Lauren Muser.

The battle between the two teams started out slow. The first 20 minutes of the first half of the game was a scramble for control of the ball. The Cyclone women soon took the reins, however, and scored the first goal with 19:54 left on the clock.

It was kicked in by Christina Whitehead and assisted by Jocelyn Nordstrom. Nordstrom also helped in goal number two for ISU when she assisted junior player Tawnya Miller’s score with slightly over 12 minutes to play in the first half.

The Cyclone’s third goal came from Megan O’Leary with less than a minute left in the first half of the game.

The ISU team had 17 shots on goal and Muser had six saves during the match.

“They played really well and looked strong,” Gruber said. “The team crossed the ball well and battled really hard into the wind. We outplayed them completely in the first half. We knuckled down and really played together as a team.”

Muser was pleased with the way the final game went and said that the team had changed a lot from their first scrimmage at the beginning of the season.

“It’s like night and day. We talk more and we relate to each other better. We play more as a unit,” Muser said.

Originally from Baton Rouge, La., Muser followed Head Coach Cathy Klein from Creighton and is glad she made the transfer to Iowa State.

“The program here is more organized, and we have a lot more support from the athletic department and a lot more support from the campus,” Muser said.

Muser said she knew it would be a struggle, as well as a big adjustment, to come from a well-established program to a beginning one, but the teamwork made the difference.

“We’ve surpassed any goals we’ve set,” Muser said.