Iowa State Stumbles In Big 12 Opener Against Texas

AMES, Iowa - A first half flurry of goals by Texas proved to be the difference in the Iowa State soccer team's 4-0 loss to the Longhorns in its Big 12 Conference opener Friday at the ISU Soccer Complex.  The Cyclones played in front of a crowd of 972, marking the third-largest home attendance in program history.

Iowa State (7-4 overall, 0-1 Big 12 Conference) played the Longhorns level in the second half and had the edge in shots (6-4) and corner kicks (2-1) after intermission.  However, the lead Texas (4-6-1 overall, 1-0 Big 12) built proved to be insurmountable.

The Longhorns got on the scoreboard 13:56 into the match off a goal from Sharis Lachappelle from an assist by Hannah Higgins.  The Cyclones had little time to recover from the initial blow by the Longhorns, as Texas doubled its lead less than three minutes later off a goal from Kristin Cummins.

The Cyclones nearly cut the Longhorns' lead in half when senior Megan Longobardi redirected a free kick into the back of the Texas net. However, Longobardi's effort was disallowed because of an offside call against Iowa State.

The Longhorns added to their two-goal lead at the 28:42 mark off a goal by Lindsey Meyer.  Gabby Zarnega earned the assist.  The Meyer-Zarnegar duo struck again with 5:28 remaining in the first half to give Texas the 4-0 lead.

For the match Texas outshot Iowa State 14-10 and also had an 8-3 corner kick edge.

Iowa State sophomore Andrea Swanson played the entire match in goal and registered three saves.

The Cyclones play South Dakota Sunday in a non-conference match.  The contest will start at noon and be played at the ISU Soccer Complex.