Success at Iowa State came early for Lindsey Rector.

A junior midfielder on the Iowa State women’s soccer team, Rector finished her sophomore season as a member of the all-Big 12 second team.

Rector helped lead the Cyclones to a 12-9 overall record and the team’s first appearance in the Big 12 postseason tournament.

Finishing the season with eight goals and 14 assists, Rector tallied 30 points on the season.

Head coach Cathy Klein believes that Rector is a vital asset to the team.

“Lindsey is the quarterback of the team,” Klein said. “She is the heart and soul of everything we’ve built, everything we are and everything we will be.”

In spite of her impressive personal statistics, Rector exemplifies the definition of being a team player in discussing the upcoming season.

“Having trust in one another is important,” Rector said. “We have to communicate and make sure that we’re playing together as a team.”

One player who has benefitted from Rector’s attitude on and off the field is junior forward Jun Shen.

“Lindsey is such a good person, and I respect her a lot,” Shen said. “When I first got here [from China], I was really homesick. Lindsey gave me a great big teddy bear to make me feel welcome here. She is really important to the team and has helped me out a lot.”

Both individually and as a team, Rector credits much of her success to the help of Coach Klein.

“She keeps the pressure on us to work hard on the field and in the classroom, because without good grades we can’t play,” Rector said. “She helps the team by allowing us to do activities with one another outside of soccer. We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for her.”

Even though the squad returns eight starters from a year ago, the team is still relatively young and inexperienced. Sixteen of the team’s 22 players are either freshmen or sophomores.

Rector maintains confidence in her team and believes effective communication between the veterans and the newcomers will help the team begin its season on the right track.

“We are working as a team to get to know each other better to improve our chemistry,” Rector said. “So far, we’re looking real good.”