The sports world often speculates about professional teams and college teams playing each other. Could Alabama’s football team beat the Jacksonville Jaguars? Could Kentucky’s basketball team beat the Philadelphia 76ers?

The hypothetical situation became a reality for ISU soccer when the team played a pair of exhibition games against the FC Kansas City Blues and the Chicago Red Stars of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) this past weekend.

“It was an amazing experience,” said sophomore defender Madi Ott. “Not a lot of people get that opportunity and I know we all feel super lucky.”

As one might expect, the Cyclones dropped both games to superior professional teams, but what might be surprising is how well they played. The Cyclones fell to the Red Stars by a score of 3-0 and stuck with the Blues before falling 1-0.

While the Jaguars and 76ers are bottom feeders in their respective leagues, FC Kansas City is a different story. The Blues are the returning NWSL champions.

“We actually gave them a really good game,” said ISU coach Tony Minatta. “They were really good and we were able to compete against them. We want to try to raise our level even more knowing that we did that and now we have to apply that to future games.”

Spring is an important time for soccer teams, as they begin to work out the kinks in preparation for the fall season. It’s a time to work on the small technical stuff, but also a time to gain confidence and consistency.

“It was intimidating, but I think once we got in the games, started connecting passes, getting in tackles, it built confidence for ourselves and we were able to carry that through both games,” Ott said.

Finding that confidence is a breath of fresh air for the team after struggling last season and not being sure what to expect in the spring season.

The Cyclones had difficulties with their conference schedule last season, winning only one conference game and finishing with a 7-11 overall record. 

A successful spring season inspires plenty of confidence, but holding your own against a professional team boosts the team to another level.

“We didn’t really have anything to lose, so going in with that perspective we just kind of played soccer and I think we have to carry that over to other games,” said forward Koree Willer.

With more spring soccer yet to come and an eye on the real season when fall rolls around, the team hopes it can continue its high level of play moving forward.

“We’re definitely not at the professional level, but what we did out there was impressive,” Minatta said.