With the ISU women’s soccer team’s Big 12 life teetering, the game against the other Big 12 team without a conference win came down to who was going to make the mistake and who was going to capitalize.

Iowa State played Oklahoma State Friday night. Both teams were winless in the Big 12, and Friday’s game was a defensive power struggle with big conference implications.

Both teams’ seasons were essentially at stake, as the score remained gridlocked at 0-0 until the 68th minute.

“We played really good for pockets of time but it wasn’t consistent all the way through the whole 90 minutes,” Minatta said. “That last 20 minutes we were pressuring, we were feeling that sense of urgency, but we didn’t feel that in the first 20 minutes of the half… We made a mistake right in front of our box. We didn’t clear the ball and they capitalized on it.”

The Cowgirls found the net and held onto their lead until the clock struck zero. Now the Cyclones need a lot of things to swing their way in order for postseason life.

“We need a lot of help and we need to win our last two games,” Minatta said. “That’s pretty much it at this point. We have to get wins in these last two games and we need to get a little help from some other teams to be able to move forward.”

Minatta said, moving forward, it’s about having a team mentality to make sure it takes the field and plays a consistent 90 minutes.

He has preached that all year, and it seems to be a direct correlation with the outcome of the crucial Oklahoma State game.

“I think we know that we have some stuff that we need to work on,” said sophomore Sasha Stinson. “I think everybody’s just trying to find it in themselves to come out and fix it.”

Iowa State started off the season with very few problems to fix as it beat No. 10 ranked Pepperdine on Aug. 30. But as Big 12 play rolled around, the Cyclones seemed to get in a never-ending slump.

However, the Cyclones are in an interesting position moving forward. They play No. 3-ranked West Virginia on Oct. 18 with “absolutely nothing to lose.”

“We know we’re capable of [winning big games,]” Minatta said. “If we just take the field and play without putting pressure on ourselves, we can play and we can do it.”

Iowa State has two games left this season and, moving forward, Minatta said he would like to see improvement in the things he has been preaching since day one.

“We need to be consistent,” Minatta said. “We thought we had a good, consistent starting lineup. They came out strong against Texas and really strong against UNI, and tonight they didn’t come out so strong. It took us awhile to adjust to figure out what combination of players was going to be on the field. And then, we find that combination but it’s too late.”

Stinson said Iowa State needs to have a will to win. The Cyclones will search for that will on Sunday, Oct. 18 against No. 3 West Virginia in Morgantown, West Virginia, at 12 p.m.