AMES, Iowa – The Iowa State soccer program earned its first draw of the 2023 season on Sunday afternoon, tying UC Santa Barbara 2-2 on a hot day at the Cyclone Sports Complex.

Both Salomé Prat and Mira Emma notched their second goals of the season; however, it wasn’t enough to down the Gauchos, who saw Lauren Helwig score a brace. Both of Helwig’s scores came from penalty kicks in the second half.

The Cyclones played in front of their largest crowd of the year so far on Sunday, as 555 spectators took in Sunday’s action.

Though UCSB had more shots, corners and saves than the Cyclones, the Gauchos were unable to get anything going on the offensive end. Helwig capitalized on some over-aggressive ISU defense and converted both PK attempts to notch both her second and third goals of the year.

The first 30 minutes of action for both teams was pretty even, though the Gauchos were outshooting the Cyclones 6-2. Abigail Miller had a good look for the Cyclones in the 17^thminute, sending a speedy line drive toward the UCSB net only to have it stopped.

Iowa State didn’t get another shot off until the 36th minute; however, this shot connected. Salomé Prat buried a goal from roughly 25 yards out off a Jocelyn Bice assist to put the Cyclones on top. ISU would take its 1-0 lead into the break, leading at half for the second time on the year.

The Cyclones were hot out of the gates in the second stanza, jumping all over the Gauchos and punching in a second goal in the 47th minute to take a quick 2-0 lead over UCSB.

Iowa State’s defense held serve until an Isabella Agrusso foul in the box gave the Gauchos a PK in the 52nd minute. Helwig, UCSB’s leading shot-taker, attempted the PK and brought UCSB within one.

The two teams battled for the next 20 minutes, with the only shots coming from ISU, one of which Emma just missed right.

The Gauchos began to threaten in Cyclone territory in the 72nd minute, eventually drawing their second penalty in the box in the 73rd.

Helwig again converted the PK to knot things up at two. From there, UCSB shifted its focus solely to defense. The Gauchos didn’t attempt another shot, withstanding a pair of attempts from the Cyclones, and walked out of the Cyclone Sports Complex with their third draw of the year.

Mira Emma’s goal today was the 13^th of her career, pushing her into a tie for tenth-most all-time in program history.

Fannon’s Thoughts 

“Our quality just dropped off in the last half hour and it cost us the game. We have to have more consistency. We probably should have gotten a second and maybe a third goal in the first half and then maybe the game is over, especially when we came out in the second half the way we did. The understanding of what that consistency needs to look like will help us.”

 

Goals 

Iowa State: Salomé Prat (36’), Mira Emma (47’)

UC Santa Barbara: Lauren Helwig (52’ – pen, 74’ – pen) 

 

Assists 

Iowa State: Jocelyn Bice, Nicolasa Jacobs 

UC Santa Barbara: N/A  

 

Up Next
Following its two-game homestand, Iowa State will take to the road next Thursday, Sept. 7, when it travels to Oregon to face off with Portland State. Next Thursday’s game is set to kick off at 2 p.m. CT and will be streamed on ESPN+.