Lack of leadership and consistent play has bogged down the ISU soccer team for much of the season, but the Cyclones put together a complete game and found a leader to rally around in one of their underclassmen Sunday.

Sophomore midfielder Jordan Bishop was the hustle and engine driving the Cyclones to a tough 0-0 draw against No. 15 Colorado, earning the team just their second point in Big 12 conference play this season.

Bishop, who leads the team in assists, with five, is one of the most active players on the field. On Sunday, she was busy tackling defenders and racing Colorado players to loose balls in order to gain possession.

“My biggest thing is just working hard, and I feel like if I’m in every play and helping make things happen, then the people around me will start doing the same thing,” Bishop said. “And if I see the other people working hard, that just feeds how I feel for things on the field.”

The Carrollton, Texas native has a knack for being in each play and realizing the things that make a team successful do not come easy.

“We know what we’re capable of, so if we just come out and pressure hard then we can come away with a victory each time,” she said.

When asked about how she feels about being tagged as the “fearless leader,” Bishop laughed and gave a big grin.

“My dad’s a coach, and I know how to play the game,” Bishop said. “I’ve played with people my whole life and Wendy [Dillinger] is a great coach, so I just do what I’m supposed to do on the field.”

Coach Dillinger has seen the growth of Bishop and the whole team this year, but she is confident that every time a spark is needed, Bishop will be ready.

“Jordan is a very good player,” Dillinger said. “I think her ability to play both sides of the ball, offensive and defensive, and ignite the team is something she’s starting to take a handle of. She realizes that’s her role, which is good.”

Establishing a general on the field was not the only part of the match that made the Cyclones feel that they have made strides either. Throughout the whole season, players and coaches were disappointed with the lack of intensity and hard play throughout the whole game. That all changed as Iowa State pushed the tempo and had several chances to score despite registering only 10 shots.

“I think we came out hard from the beginning,” Bishop said. “We knew that we needed to come out and make a point. I think it was the first time that we all worked for a whole 90 minutes, and we never gave up, we just kept going and going.”

Not giving up was made apparent on the defensive side of the ball more than anything. Despite 37 shots by Colorado, the Cyclone backline of juniors Lauren Fader and Tori Johnson and freshman Emily Hejlik clamped down with tough play and double teams all day.

The Cyclones appeared to be tired for only brief moments but quickly picked up the intensity to frustrate the Colorado offense. A number of times Iowa State would pressure the ball no matter where the Buffaloes were at and it led to a few great scoring chances.

“We are a possession team and we like to link passes and create opportunities … It will come eventually — we just have to keep going forward,” Bishop said.

Dillinger made it clear that this is the style of play the team has been missing in order to complete the full game and finish.

“We weren’t strung out, and we didn’t have our backs separate from the midfield and forwards. It looked like one cohesive unit, and things that we talked about doing with them, we did a pretty good job,” Dillinger said. “We didn’t let them switch the ball except for around the back or switch in the midfield. They weren’t able to serve that long ball to get in behind us.”