The Iowa State Cyclones are coming off a 4-0 loss to No.13 West Virginia last week but are preparing for a key conference double-header this week with Oklahoma State on Thursday and Kansas on Sunday.

Despite the big loss early last week, Iowa State head coach Matt Fannon was able to identify some of the good things the team was able to do in that match against a very strong Mountaineers side, a side the Cyclones are now 0-10 against as a program.

“I think we did some really, really good things. We did some really good things in the first half,” Fannon said. “Three or four times we did some pretty silly things that left us vulnerable in negative transition, and we worked so hard to fix that that I think we just ran out of gas.” 

The Cyclones were able to create some opportunities in the first half and were definitely in the game, but as Fannon mentioned, a few mistakes saw the Mountaineers capitalize and put four in the back of the net.

While the team played well in the first half and also started the second half off well, they seemed to have a dip in their playing quality in certain moments as mentioned. Fannon will not allow these moments to define his team, though, as he is certain his squad will learn from it and apply those lessons in future matches.

“I think that if we’re going to move on from it, we have got to be okay realizing we made some mistakes against a really good team and they punished us for it,” Fannon said. “So we’re going to learn from it and not dwell on it.”

With that in mind, the Cyclones are set to face Oklahoma State on Thursday and Kansas on Sunday, both of which will be at home. Having been on the road the last two games, the players are excited to be back in Ames and hopefully get back to their winning ways.

Freshman Morina Suter-Doerig mentioned how being at home this weekend has been motivating for the squad to get back on track.

“I think it helps a lot because our fans and the music playing and everybody here motivates us,” Suter-Doerig said. “Sometimes the fans of the other teams try to put us down and it shouldn’t disturb us and it hasn’t disturbed us, but I think it should motivate us playing at home.”

Fellow freshman Lauren McConnell also mentioned the two game home stint being an opportunity to create some consistency and build on the season following the West Virginia loss. 

“It’s always nice to be home and have fans here, obviously sleep in your own bed and everything,” McConnell said. “If we go out there and work hard, I think we can definitely create some consistency from this weekend, hopefully win the games, build from there and keep beating teams in the conference.”

The Cyclones are set to face Oklahoma State at 6 p.m. Thursday evening. The Cyclones then face Kansas at 1p.m. Sunday.

Both games are at home in Ames and available to stream on ESPN+ via Big 12 Now.