Last weekend against the Iowa Hawkeyes and Milwaukee Panthers, Iowa State scored four goals and went 1-1. This weekend, the offense struggled, as the Cyclones were held to one total goal against Missouri-Kansas City and Northern Iowa.

In Sunday’s loss against Northern Iowa, the Cyclones took 16 shots, but only two of those shots were on goal.

“We had a lot of chances, and we should have taken them earlier, we took too many touches,” said senior Klasey Medelberg.

The Panthers were able to hold the Cyclones scoreless on Sunday, which is the third time that has happened this season.

“We weren’t attacking the way we can, and we need to keep attacking going forward,” said sophomore Courtney Powell.

The Cyclones have continuously mixed and matched different lineups.

Against the Northern Iowa Panthers, over 11 of the 18 players that played on Sunday were either a freshmen or sophomores. Six of the 11 starters for the Cyclones against the Panthers were freshmen or sophomores.

Some underclassmen that have made starts for the Cyclones recently are freshman Brooke Miller, sophomore Shea Sullivan and sophomore Kassi Ginther.

“We’re going to revisit what we are doing with our formation, how we’re playing and how we’re going to put a system together that’s more conducive to our personnel,” said coach Tony Minatta. “We have a lot of players on the team that compete, we have a lot of athletes, and it’s time to exploit that.”

Two Cyclone starters who weren’t able to take the field against the Panthers on Sunday were juniors Kasey Opfer, who has been out with an injury this week, and Hannah Cade, who suffered a foot injury on Friday against UMKC.

Minatta believes Opfer will be back this week, but Hannah Cade’s injury status isn’t confirmed yet. She has an MRI on Monday.

So far this season, the Cyclones have been outscored 16-10 in their nine matchups.

“We’re going to focus on our defensive tactics, our shape and movement defensively and we’re going to be a lot tougher to break down,” Minatta said.

The matchup against Northern Iowa was the last non-conference game for the Cyclones and they begin Big 12 play on Friday night at Texas Christian (TCU).

Iowa State is now 2-7-1 this season, which is the worst record of the 10 teams in the Big 12.

The Cyclones believe they can compete with the rest of their competition in the Big 12. However, in order to do that, the Cyclones offense must improve and have consistent performances.

“I know we can score,” Powell said.  “I know we can win games; it’s just a matter of us all being on the same page.”