AMES – Iowa State fell to Northern Colorado 1-0 in its fourth home game of the season. The loss marks the Cyclones’ second consecutive home loss, as well as their third in the previous five games.

The emotions of Senior Day ran high as family members alike showed up to support their Cyclones. 

“I’ve spent four years here, so it’s a bitter-sweet thing,” Iowa State senior midfielder Lauren McConnell said. “It’s great to appreciate all of your seniors because they have put four years into it.”

Iowa State gave up the only goal of the matchup in the 39th minute, scored by Northern Colorado midfielder Anneliese Wong. The goal was Wong’s first of the season and just the third goal scored by the Bears in eight games.

“We just were about as bad as we could possibly be in the first half,” Cyclones head coach Matt Fannon said. “While we were a significantly better team in the second half, we dug ourselves a hole and you just can’t do that at this level.”

Iowa State had a collective six shots on goal, four of which came from senior Morgan Furmaniak. The Cyclones took more shots collectively but failed to find the back of the net throughout the game.

“I think we have a lot to work on,” Furmaniak said. “We need to lock in and make sure that our minds are on the games and the games only.”

Northern Colorado was winless coming into Sunday’s matchup against Iowa State. The Bears have been outscored by a margin of 18-2 this season, ranking last among the Big Sky Conference.

Penalties plagued the Cyclones in the second half of the match. Iowa State was hit hard with two yellow cards against defender Chloe Broughton and forward Ella Ciardullo. The Cyclones had nine fouls collectively. 

Iowa State will be back in action at 6 p.m. Thursday in Lawrence, Kansas, where they take on Kansas to start Big 12 play. Fannon and his team hope to avenge the loss ahead of the team’s next home matchup against Iowa in the Cy-Hawk series Sunday.