If a soccer team were a car, midfielders would be its engine. And Iowa center midfielder Alex Seydel is the gas fueling the Hawkeyes’ vehicle.

The senior has never missed a game in her career at Iowa, starting as a freshman from California three years ago and notching a streak of 65-consecutive starts.

“I had the opportunity coming in here as a freshman [to start],” she said. “The coaches gave me that opportunity, and I took advantage of it.”

Seydel, who attests her streak to her fitness regimen, grew up in San Diego and attended Westview High School. However, her parents are both from Iowa City and graduated from Regina High. This made becoming a Hawkeye an easy decision.

“I had been here several summers, and I’d always loved it here,” Seydel said. “I’ve always kind of thought of myself as more of a Midwestern girl than a Southern California girl, so when I came here on my official visit, it just felt right.”

Iowa head coach Ron Rainey agrees that Seydel, who is also academic All-Big Ten, is a perfect match for his program. She is tough, tenacious and always willing to do the little things that don’t show up on the stat sheet but win ball games.

“Alex doesn’t get all the glamour jobs,” Rainey said. “She gets jobs where you’re asking her to mark a player on another team, to hold the team together defensively, to work hard, and win balls, and slide tackle, and those types of things.

“She does a lot of the dirty work, and she does it with a physical presence. To have those 60-plus games is tremendous experience for our team out on the field and for some of our young players to see how they have to approach things on a daily basis.”

After the crushing loss of cocaptain Heather Windsor, who tore several ligaments in her ankle on Aug. 28 in a 2-0 win over Montana, Seydel will step in to give the Hawkeyes extra leadership on and off the field.

Sophomore Morgan Showalter is acutely aware of Seydel’s importance in directing the squad.

“On the field she’s a great leader, it’s almost like she’s played every position,” Showalter said. “She knows exactly where people need to be, and she’s very vocal. She’s very smart about the game.”

Seydel has dished out six assists and scored five goals in her career, two coming early this season, in which Iowa is 3-2 overall with a four-game home stand coming up.

The Hawkeyes have increased their victory total each of Seydel’s three seasons, from six to eight in 2007 to nine last year. There’s no doubt whether she will be a key cog in helping the Hawkeyes achieve their goal of playing in the first NCAA Tournament in school history this season.

“This is kind of my mentality: You can have an off-day technically,” Seydel said. “You might not be connecting passes. You might not be playing balls that are getting to where you want them to go.

“But you can always control your effort. You can always be at 110 percent every single minute of practices and games. I keep that in mind with everything that I do, and hopefully that helps me continue to be on the field as much as possible.”