AMES — The Iowa State soccer team’s offense finally found success in its 2-1 win against the Houston Cougars to move to 4-7-1 on the season.
“The fight, the spirit, the dedication and the ability to be down in the game as tight as this one was and win it shows a really quite incredible development in the team,” Iowa State head coach Matt Fannon said.
Fannon spoke on the Cyclones’ previous lack of heart and effort to win close games like this one where they have started down in the game. In the past, the Cyclones would be unable to win close games like they did against the Cougars.
Iowa State opened up the match with a lot of energy and dominated the entire first half of the matchup.
The first 15 minutes of the game were back and forth for both offenses. However, no real chances came on either side.
The Cyclones did open up opportunities for themselves having a 3-1 corner kick advantage. Houston managed to take a two-to-zero shot advantage, but both shots were blocked by Cyclone defenders.
The team started the match with great poise but struggled to keep its early momentum rolling through the entirety of the game.
The next 20 minutes were when Iowa State soccer started to play its style of play, but the team still could not find the back of the net.
Leia Khairy had a close shot in the 36th minute that came off a cross from Mira Emma; however, Houston goalie Olivia Dietrich added to her three saves of the half and kept the Cyclones off the board.
Iowa State controlled the first 45 minutes offensively, having a 5-2 shot advantage, 6-1 corner advantage, 57% possession of the ball and 3-0 shot-on-goal advantage, but the Cougars still kept the game tied at zero to end the half.
Houston made plenty of halftime adjustments as it came out firing to start the second half and scored in the 50th minute. Aryanna Jimison found the back of the net off an assist from Cordelia Cross.
For the next 15 minutes, the Cyclones found themselves defending a lot more and almost conceded a few more goals to the Cougars, but Cyclone goalkeeper Avery Gillahan came up with a huge save to keep Iowa State in the game.
Iowa State woke up and began to put pressure on the Cougars’ back line late in the game. In the 70th minute, Olivia Edwards scored thanks to an assist from Emma.
From then on, both teams couldn’t seem to get anything going as they spent the next 20 minutes going back and forth.
However, in the 86th minute, Salomé Prat got a clear shot outside the box and scored her third goal of the year to help the Cyclones go up 2-1. Hanna Reid got the assist as she found Prat batting a few defenders off her back.
“I feel good and happy but not satisfied,” Prat said. “We now know how to deal with pressure and failure and can move forward and stop focusing on things that are bad.”
Iowa State soccer snapped its four-game losing streak and now sits at 4-7-1 on the season.
The Cyclones will stay home and play again at 6 p.m. Monday when they host the No. 6 team in the country, BYU.
