Women’s Soccer starts the season 2-0 with win over Northern Colorado

The Iowa State Women’s Soccer team traveled out to Greeley, Colorado for their game against Northern Colorado. The Cyclones won their game earlier this week against a tough Arizona team while the UNCO Bears are coming off a 3-0 defeat against Colorado in Boulder. Iowa State has not made any starting roster changes from their game on Thursday.

Iowa State Starting Roster

(G) Avery Gillahan, (D) Maddie Brant, (D) Chloe Broughton, (D) Hanna Reid, (D) Olivia Edwards, (M) Lauren McConnell, (M) Sophia Thomas, (M) Hannah Shaw, (M) Abigail Miller, (M) Mira Emma, (F) Salomé Prat

Northern Colorado Starting Roster

(G) Kaya Lindberg, (D) Lily Thimsen, (D) Mia Norman, (D) Lucy Roberts, (D) Kailey Seymour, (M) Brooke Holmberg, (M) Sydney Engelkins, (M) Alex Michael, (F) Alexis Tuite, (F) Lauren Woodhull, (F) Rachel Mortensen

First-Half Highlights

• Iowa State started the beginning of the game with multiple shots to the bottom left corner between Mira Emma and Salomé Prat. The first 15 minutes saw the Cyclones have 4 shots forcing goalkeeper Kaya Lindberg to the ground and forcing the shots wide. The Cyclones had a total of 6 shots on target with 62% of the possession.
• UNCO was solid in their defensive positions. They allowed a lot of shots, but they didn’t allow any uncontested shots forcing hard shooting angles. The Bears also defended the corner kicks well and had multiple counter-attacks that fell short. The Bears only had 2 shots on target with one shot that was inches away from the top right corner of the net leaving Avery Gillahan stuck on the ground.

Second-Half Highlights

• Mira Emma is awarded a penalty kick (her 2nd of the season) and converted for a goal. Shot hard middle right of the goal past the keeper.

• UNCO’s Rachel Mortensen had a chance to tie up the game and headed the ball wide left of goal on an uncontested header.
• Cross came into Iowa State’s own 6 yard box - ping pongs around with some potential handballs. UNCO players attempted multiple shots that just kept bouncing off everyone. Cyclones finally got it out of the penalty area keeping our lead intact.
• Final whistle blows with the Cyclones winning the game 1-0 on Mira Emma’s penalty kick conversion.

Post Game Thoughts

Let me just start with this - Cyclone Turfgrass makes me feel spoiled and I don’t even play on their turf.

UNCO’s field seemed inconsistent on passing speeds and bounces. The first half showed that we have the firepower up front, and our wing play was excellent with total possession ending at 62%. The Bears were very good at keeping the Cyclones offense honest though. The beginning of the second half was the same as the first - a lot of pressure from the Cyclones and Mira getting awarded a penalty kick and converting it gave us the win. If you would look at the possession and shots on goal, the expectation of the score to be slightly higher in our favor could be justified, but UNCO’s goalkeeper was really dialed in and didn’t allow any shots by outside the penalty kick. Iowa State ended the game with 7 shots on goal against UNCO’s 1 that came in the first half.

Player of the Match

Mira Emma gets this honor today. The queen of penalty kicks gets her second awarded in 2 games and converts it for the early goal in the 2nd half. She was solid in midfield and most of our offensive creativity was produced by her as well. With UNCO seeming to always have at least 2 defenders on her, she supplied great support, dribbles and took up space to allow her teammates to make open runs.

Next Game

Iowa State will travel to Iowa City for the Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series game on Thursday, August 24 at 7PM CT. The game will be streamed to B1G+.