The Cyclones look to get their first-ever win in school history against the West Virginia Mountaineers as they travel to Morgantown on Thursday.
Iowa State is coming off its best offensive performance of the season during its Big 12 opener to Oklahoma State. The Cyclones outshot the Cowgirls 19-9 and outplayed Oklahoma State in nearly every category, yet the scoreboard still fell to their opponent’s favor 4-1.
“The most bizarre game of soccer I’ve ever been in, and at the same time, a very stereotypical game of soccer,” Iowa State head coach Matt Fannon said. “It’s such fine margins in our sport that win and lose the game. They took their chances; we didn’t take our chances.”
Iowa State led the game against Oklahoma State in possession, shots, and shots on goal and even had to make six fewer saves in the game, and the Cyclones still lost the game by three points.
“The good thing is that over the years it hasn’t been very often that we’ve created that many chances in conference games,” Fannon said. “And it hasn’t been very often that we’ve dominated conference games like that, if ever.”
It may be a step in the right direction for Iowa State soccer. Thursday’s matchup against West Virginia will tell.
The Cyclones must go on the road where they are a combined 0-11 all-time against the Mountaineers since West Virginia joined the conference in 2012.
“The truth is West Virginia are very similar to us,” Fannon said. “The way that they play, attack and defend are very similar to what we do. What we need to figure out is: are we capable of getting past the concept that Iowa State has never really been good at soccer and West Virginia has always been good at soccer?”
The West Virginia soccer team is historically good at soccer, but this season hasn’t found its rhythm yet. This might be the Cyclones’ best shot at beating the Mountaineers since they joined the conference over a decade ago.
“A theme that’s been going around [the clubhouse] over the past few weeks is taking our opportunities and really executing those chances,” Mira Emma said. “We put ourselves in good opportunities to create dangerous play, but we have to finish and put the ball in the back of the net.”
Big 12 play just began for Iowa State during its loss against Oklahoma State, however, for West Virginia this upcoming matchup against the Cyclones will be its conference opener.
“We have a long road to go,” Emma said. “One game is not going to define us, but we need to keep moving forward in a positive direction. You’re going to have your struggles, but it’s how you continue to move through that and play how we want to play, and good things will happen.”
Emma leads all Cyclones with four goals, two assists and 19 shots, 13 of those on target. She looks to continue her dominance on offense as well as continue to get her teammates involved.
The Mountaineers are led by sophomore forward Taylor White with four goals and 10 points on the season.
Senior Chloe Adler, fifth-year Julianne Vallerand, junior Dilary Heredia-Beltran, and White led West Virginia with a combined 59 shots on the season. That made up 50% of the shots for the entire season.
The Iowa State back line and entire team will look to end their two-game losing streak and get their first-ever win over West Virginia.
Thursday’s game is set to kick off at 6 p.m. following a change in game time and will be broadcast on ESPN+.
