Here it is, everyone… our first Off Topic EVER with an athlete from a sport I am not covering, and senior forward Lindsey Schwartz of the women’s soccer team is the first participant. The volleyball Off Topic will be coming later this week, so worry not volleyball fans, but this is just a supplemental one for those who may not like to wait an entire week for new material! **NOTE** I apologize for the font and links posted, I realized that this style makes the conversation tougher to read, but we are currently updating our website, and it was a struggle to even get this on at this time. Hopefully the issue will be resolved in time for this week’s second edition of Off Topic. On to the bio. Name: Lindsey Schwartz Sport: Soccer Class: Senior Position: Forward Full Bio: http://www.gophersports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=38625&SPID=3296&DB_OEM_ID=8400&ATCLID=261391&Q_SEASON=2008 Lindsey leads the Gophers with 16 points this season, including 6 goals, helping Minnesota to an impressive 17-2 overall record, including a 10-0 record at home. The Gophers are ranked 25th nationally this season, and could make a run come tournament time. Mark Heise: To start things off, you played a game against Northwestern in absolutely horrible weather. There was rain, snow, wind, the field was soggy… so the question is, would you prefer indoor soccer for days like that? Lindsey Schwartz: Obviously, in those conditions you’d much rather be inside, but it kind of comes with the territory. Soccer is a fall sport, and every once in a while you’re going to have a cold game. But this is probably the first time in four years we’ve played in snow. MH: It also looks like the goalie took you out a few times… What was worse, getting tripped by her a few times, or the weather? LS: Well to be honest, she did a great job. She made a lot of great plays and stopped several of our breakaways. We have to give her a lot of credit. But the worst part about it was rolling in the wet grass, because then you just get 10 times colder. I remember the first time it happened my hands went down, and then my gloves were soaking wet and I couldn’t feel my hands for the rest of the game. MH: I’ve been to practice once, and had an opportunity to see you practice corner kicks. You can kick the ball quite a ways. So how far can you kick, and if the football team needed a place kicker, could you step in for them? LS: I don’t know how far I can kick the ball, but I guess I could try it out one day and let you know. We do need to kick the ball pretty far. And actually I’ve tried to kick a field goal before, and it’s a lot harder than it looks. I guess if I practiced long enough, maybe. MH: How far were you trying from? LS: I think it was just a normal extra point. I could do it with a soccer ball, but not a football. MH: Getting out of the soccer world, I know you occasionally attend the Purple Onion for your studying needs. How important is the Purple Onion to your academic success? LS: It’s extremely important. When I sit in my apartment, I can’t do anything. I watch TV, play on my computer, basically do everything you’re not supposed to do when you’re trying to study. Also, I need caffeine or I can’t concentrate. So I like to come here, and then with other people studying around me, it keeps me motivated. MH: You mentioned TV… Do you talk to your TV? What shows prompt that? LS: Yeah, I do sometimes when I’m watching football or basketball… usually sporting events are the reason I talk to my TV. Otherwise I usually just like to sit and enjoy and watch a good movie! MH: You mentioned basketball, and I’ve heard the soccer team has an intramural basketball team… LS: We do. We have a good team. For two years we were undefeated, and then we lost to the med-school students in triple-overtime. They got mad at us because we were so competitive, so they wrote a note to Joel Maturi. They weren’t very happy about it. MH: Position? LS: I would say I’m either occasionally the point guard or one of the shooting guards because I like to shoot 3-pointers. MH: I don’t see a lot of height on the soccer team… who plays forward? LS: Lindsey Dare, she’s one of our most athletic people, and she’s a very good basketball player. And then Sara Clancy, she’s like 5’8 (actually 6’0″), she’s one of our tall girls. But it’s kind of nice because we’re a lot faster than most teams so we get a lot of layups. MH: Likely better-conditioned too… LS: Oh yeah, we have plenty of conditioning. MH: Aside from women’s basketball, would you say the soccer team has the best women’s basketball team of all the other women’s varsity sports? LS: I don’t know… In basketball I think we could beat cross country, sorry to the cross country girls, we could maybe beat volleyball, but that depends if a lot of them play, because they’re all pretty tall… Swimming, I don’t know if they ever play because swimming takes a lot of time… I would say we could give each team a pretty good run for their money. MH: Halloween coming up… When’s the last time you went Trick or Treating? LS: I went in high school once because I knew a bunch of houses had full-size candy bars, so I went to 3-4 houses. MH: Two things I’ve been told you love: Sleeping in, and Annies, the burger and malt place in Dinkytown. LS: Yes. MH: If you had to give up your snooze button or Annies, which would it be? LS: Yikes… Um I guess I would say I’d have to give up Annies! I absolutely love sleeping more than anything. Any chance I have an opportunity to take a nap, I’ll take one. And I’m the person who will sleep in until the last minute before having to get up for class. MH: That sounds a lot like me. Professional career: you want to be a Vet. Do you have any pets? LS: I used to have a dog, but my parents didn’t get another one after I left for college because they travel every weekend and it wouldn’t be fair. But I’ve actually wanted to be a Vet. since I was in first grade. It might sound kind of funny, but I really love animals, and personally I’d feel more comfortable working with animals than I would working with people. That may not sound the best… MH: Well, animals can’t sue you… LS: No… well I guess I just feel more comfortable. I don’t know, I just love being around them, it makes me happy. MH: Ok. New topic, why do you pick up the Daily? LS: I do read the Daily. A lot of times I like to read the Sports section to keep up with what’s going on. MH: You’re the first person to actually say that in one of these interviews. LS: Really? I do like reading it! I don’t really like Sudoku, it frustrates me, because I’m not up to par with everyone’s Sudoku level. I try the crossword and occasionally I’ll read Dr. Date because most of those are funny. MH: Men’s basketball player Travis Busch and Gophersports writer Zach Eisendrath have an online video blog/show called the What Else? Show, found at www.whatelsemedia.com, where they discuss anything from current events to people watching to parking tickets, basically whatever they feel like mentioning. Zach calls it “‘The View’ for men.” The question of the week, as blogs like this are becoming more popular, if you had a show like this, what would you call it, and what would it be about? LS: Ooh… Ok this is a tough one… It would be called “The Puppy Show” so I could always play with puppies, and I would teach dogs how to do tricks, and show how to teach them. I’m good at that. MH: First HUMAN guest? LS: This is hard! I would say… I don’t know, probably (Minnesota soccer player) Elaina Fruci because she always lets me come over and play with all of her puppies. They breed yellow labs. And since they let me play with them, I would have them in the show. MH: Last question for you and then we’ll let you go, and in a roundabout way, we’re back to soccer. You get good crowds for your home games, but you can always have more people. If you were going to talk to students here, what’s a good reason for them to head out to St. Paul for one of the team’s home games? LS: Because it actually is fun and exciting. And the more fans we get, the better we seem to play. To be honest, the game is only an hour and a half long, so you know pretty much how long you’re going to be out there, unless it goes to overtime. And we’re having a great year! Thank you Lindsey for being our first guest off of my beats, we do appreciate your time! That’s everything for this edition, no bonus material this time. But be sure to check in later in the week for our Off Topic edition with volleyball setter, Rachel Hartmann.