After a heartbreaking overtime loss to Iowa late on Friday night, the Iowa State women’s soccer team remains in Iowa City to face another big test Sunday morning: the Minnesota Golden Gophers.

Minnesota went 16-3-4 last season and won the Big Ten Conference Tournament in the process. They were knocked out in the first round of the NCAA Tournament with a 0-0 draw to North Carolina State, losing on penalties 4-2. 

This year, Minnesota is 1-0-2 with draws against Washington State and Notre Dame and a win over North Dakota State.

Minnesota brings a fierce attack to the table having scored 48 goals last year, outshooting opponents by a margin of 388-223. The Golden Gophers finished the season with a plus 36 goal differential. 

Junior forward April Bockin is the team’s leading returning goalscorer with 7, but the Golden Gophers suffered a lot of turnover, losing 27 of the team’s 48 goals scored to graduation. 

Even with the roster turnover, Coach Tony Minatta knows that Minnesota will be a big test for the Cyclones.

“They have a ton of pace up top and they’re gonna compete and play hard, very similar to what we just played tonight,” Minatta said. “It’s one of those things, it’s a Big Ten team and we need to match that intensity and fight for it.” 

Minatta also emphasized that the Cyclones need to take advantage of any scoring opportunities they create in order to win on Sunday. 

“We really need to take care of our chances. We create a lot of opportunities but we really gotta finish one off,” Minatta said. “They always say finishing is the last thing to come in soccer.

“It is difficult when you get in those stretches where in practice you get a lot of reps, but in a game you might get one chance. [Finishing] is something that will come in time.”

The backline of the Cyclones had a good outing last night despite the 1-0 scoreline, and sophomore Merin Mundt was certain that the new defensive partnership will continue to grow in confidence. 

“Despite the loss, I thought we played well, and I just think we need to carry the positives with us heading into Sunday,” Mundt said. “Us defenders are going to come out stronger on Sunday because [giving up a goal] hurts us a lot.”

Mundt was also positive when talking about the Cyclones’ attack going up against the Golden Gophers defense. 

“They’ve got a strong offensive line, but I think our forwards will run their defensive line,” Mundt said. “We just need to put them away.”

Another big factor in the game on Sunday will be fatigue. Both Minnesota and Iowa State played in overtime games on Friday, and Minatta said that they will look at rest and rotation options before Sunday’s game. 

“There was quite a few players that played a lot of minutes [Friday], so we have to get a sense for fatigue and where we’re at,” Minatta said. “We’ll definitely be subbing and using more players than we did tonight, given that it’s a Sunday game.”