Last season, the Iowa State women’s soccer team was plagued with injuries all season long.

This season, senior co-captain Riley Behan has suffered a foot injury and will be out for a couple of months.

Behan, a defender and Davenport, Iowa, native, suffered the injury last week, and she hopes to be back in mid-October.

“The plan is to take it day by day, get the bone healed and restrengthen the muscles,” Behan said.

Behan was a starting outside back for the Cyclones. Since she can’t play for the foreseeable future, her presence will be missed on the field. Off the field, her presence will continue to be felt.

“With her leadership, the team has really rallied around her because they really respect her and they want to go out and compete for her,” said Iowa State coach Tony Minatta.

One of the things that coaches as well as players look for in a team captain is a positive outlook even when things aren’t going as planned. Behan has that positivity in spurts.

“She just has this positive energy about her that everyone feeds off of and she has such a positive outlook,” said fellow senior co-captain Emily Steil.

As a team captain, it is important to bring energy to the team and to the game. Behan is able to do that naturally.

“Riley definitely brings a lot of energy, she built everyone up and she is a good defender,” said fellow defender, senior and co-captain Jordan Enga.

While Behan is out, the energy she provided will have to come from other Cyclones on the field.

“We have more of a responsibility to bring that energy [that] Riley provided,” Steil said.

With Behan being sidelined with an injury for the next couple months, the rest of the team will have to step up.

“We have good players stepping in,” Enga said.

Before Behan is able to return to the field, she wants to make sure that she is a good off-the-field captain.

“I want to be sure that I am leading my teammates not only on the field but off the field every single day and if the minutes come then I make sure that I take every advantage of my time on the field,” Behan said.

Despite not being on the field, Behan’s voice still carries during games.

“I can hear her every game,” Enga said.

Behan hopes to be able to return for some regular season games in October, as well as the Big 12 tournament.

“The longer we play in the season, the more likely she is to return to action,”  Minatta said.

The good news for the Cyclones is that Behan is optimistic about being able to return to the field in mid-to-late October.