ISU soccer coach Wendy Dillinger placed her chin on her fist and paused for a moment, trying to think of an answer.

Her team had just returned from California after a weekend in which it lost a 5-1 match to Santa Clara and a 3-1 match to No. 3 Stanford. Dillinger was sifting through her thoughts for any signs of hope from the trip.

The question seemed hard, yet her answer was simple.

“Maddie Jobe.”

Jobe, a senior goalie out of Eden Prairie, Minn., has spent the last four years at the helm of the ISU defense as goalie. This season is her final go-around and she is beginning to see her four years of hard work pay dividends.

With the 2-0 victory against Northern Iowa on Sept. 20, Jobe not only earned her 17th career shutout, but she also took sole possession of the record for most shutouts in a career. Two days later against Saint Louis, she upped her total to 18 after another 2-0 ISU victory.

However, this feat is not the first time Jobe has etched her name into the Cyclone record books.

Jobe’s 0.79 goals-against average in 2011 is the highest in the program’s history for a single season, as was her 86.7 save percentage.

“She’s been steady and consistent performer throughout her career,” Dillinger said of Jobe. “Even when she was a freshman, to step into the Big 12 Conference is a tough challenge for a freshman, and she did a great job with it.”

‘They do everything I can’t’

The goalkeeper position has the potential to be a lonely one. Secluded from the rest of the field, the goalie seldom leaves the confines of the 18-yard box.

When called upon, a goalie has tremendous power in preserving a lead or swaying the momentum of the game. When the going gets tough, sometimes, most of the fingers are pointed towards the end of the field.

With all of her success, it could be said Jobe earned her accolades on her own, but that is something that will seldom, if ever, come out of her mouth.

“It was pretty cool to beat it [the record], but I can’t really take all of the credit,” Jobe said. “[The defense does] everything that I can’t. Blocking shots from the 18, denying crosses from outside. It’s really helpful to have them there and blocking all of that so they don’t get through and get a quality chance off of it.”

Senior Meredith Skitt has accompanied Jobe on the field for the last four years and has just as much appreciation for Jobe as Jobe has for the rest of the defense.

“I have a lot of confidence in Maddie and know that if we make a mistake it will be okay because she’s always there to make the big saves and pick up our slack when we do something wrong,” Skitt said. “It’s very reassuring to have her back there.”

Watching, waiting

Even with the amount of success Jobe has experienced, her career has not been without setbacks.

During a 2-1 victory against UW-Milwaukee last season, Jobe came off of her line to win a ball and collided with an opposing player in the process. As a result, Jobe suffered a separated shoulder and also received stitches above her right eye.

Jobe had never experienced a setback of an injury like that before. However, sitting out for four games gave Jobe a different perspective.

“That was the first long-term time I’ve been out, but it was definitely a learning experience watching from the sidelines, which was actually kind of nice because I could see how the defense worked from a different angle and view things from the sidelines,” Jobe said.

A shoulder injury for a goalie can be devastating. Diving, reaching, throwing and punching are crucial elements in a goalie’s repertoire, but much to her team’s delight, Jobe has not lost a step.

“She’s definitely stronger, and she doesn’t want to miss a second of play,” Dillinger said. “I think just knowing what it was like to sit out and watch the team for those four games knowing she couldn’t help … not that that changed anything because she’s still very aggressive.”

Jobe’s days as a Cyclone are winding down, but as her last first conference game nears, Jobe has found that her mental growth has surpassed her physical growth.

“I’ve always kind of had the athleticism, and I think I’ve grown with actual technique and everything, but I’ve definitely grown mentally,” Jobe said. “Freshman year, you get scored on, and it’s the worst thing in the world. This year and last year, you get scored on, and you just have to move on because you only have so many more minutes to play.”