ISU senior captain Haley Albert ran off the soccer field with 11 minutes left in her final game against No. 18 Texas Tech on Friday night. She went straight up to ISU coach Tony Minatta and hugged him. The crowd roared as Albert gave one last wave to the crowd.

“It’s going to be tough not having you here next year,” Minatta told Albert, tears running down both of their faces.

Minatta said it was an emotional moment.

“[Albert] was in the first freshman class when I got my job here, so I’ve through four years with her,” Minatta said as he took a break to hold back his tears. “She means a lot.”

It was senior night for the ISU women’s soccer team. Stormtroopers, Green Lantern, Luigi, Iron Man and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were among the crowd, applauding Lindsay Frank and Haley Albert as they were recognized before Friday night’s rainy game.

Albert and Frank attempted to use their senior powers to lead Iowa State to its first Big 12 win of the season.

“That was one of the best college soccer games I’ve seen all year,” Minatta said. “We came out firing. We were taking good shots. We were getting good in the attack. We were defending hard.”

Minatta said Iowa State missed an opportunity to score a goal in the box and Texas Tech came back and scored on a counter.

Scoring has been a struggle for Iowa State in Big 12 play all season. Its last goal in conference play was Oct. 9 against Texas. Its last win was against Northern Iowa on Oct. 13 where the Cyclones won 1-0. Iowa State was outscored 22-1 in Big 12 play.

No. 18 Texas Tech put up two goals against Iowa State and shut them out to win 2-0 over the Cyclones. It was seventh game where Iowa State got shut out in Big 12 play. The Cyclones only chalked up two wins in their last 10 games.

“In the second half, I thought we were all over them. We had great attack and we were keeping good possession of the ball,” Minatta said. “We made that mistake in the back to give up that second goal.”

Minatta said it was tough to dig out of the hole when playing a top-ranked team like Texas Tech. But he said Iowa State put up a “great performance” against Texas Tech.

“With what we have coming back next year, if that’s the level we’re going to be able to play at, I’m excited about what our future is.”