PHOTO COURTESY ARIZONA ATHLETICS Senior Lindsey Greenwood will wrap up her career at the UA during the team's weekend road trip to Washington.

Road game against WSU will be senior's last in UA uniform

UA soccer may only have been graced with senior defender Lindsey Greenwood's presence for two seasons.

But as the saying goes, "Quality, not quantity" - and Greenwood is all quality.

The senior will play the last two Pacific 10 Conference games of her career this weekend at Washington and Washington State.

"She brings a very good leadership presence, both on and off the field," first-year head coach Dan Tobias said of Greenwood. "She has been someone that has been very dedicated to the team from the first day she came here, which made it easy for me when I got here, to be sure."

Greenwood, one of the Wildcats' co-captains this season, has been playing soccer since she was 5 years old. Once she started playing club soccer in fourth grade, she knew she wanted to play soccer in college.

She was a two-time Gatorade Player of the Year and three-time First Team All-Iowa for Pleasant Valley High School.

She came to the UA by way of the University of Nebraska, where she spent her first two years of collegiate soccer.

"Nebraska plays a very different style of soccer," Greenwood said. "They're very direct, and I am more possession-oriented. I knew (the Wildcats) were a very possession-oriented team."

"When I came here, I liked the team a lot, I liked the school a lot, I liked the weather, and I just liked how the team played, so that was my final decision."

"I would never trade it for anything. I love it," she added.

Upon her arrival to Tucson, Greenwood had never even played the role of defender before. In her first season at Arizona, Greenwood scored two goals and had two assists as well.

Prior to the beginning of her senior season, Tobias decided to move Greenwood to one of the central defender positions.

"She looked real comfortable back there," Tobias said. "She's real vocal (and) I also felt she was a good complement to our other central defender, Lindsey Peeples."

Greenwood did not question the change, although she was unsure why the move was made.

"(Tobias) never really gave me very much information on that," she said, laughing. "He just told me it looked like I was comfortable there and he just thought we should give it a try, and ever since then, it worked out."

Their record may not show it, but the decision has paid off.

Opponents scored a total of 42 goals on the Wildcats in 2002. But with just two games remaining in the 2003 campaign, Arizona has given up just 29 scores.

To Greenwood, the most important lesson she has learned at the UA has been dealing with her teammates.

"Work with your teammates, on and off the field," she emphasized. "Always have a good relationship with your players, because that will build into a really good atmosphere on the field and make you play well."

If she could play with anyone in the soccer world, Greenwood said she would pick whom many females of the soccer world likely would: David Beckham.

"He's good-looking, of course, but he's just an awesome, skillful player and I admire that," she said.

The player on her team that she admires most is junior forward Candice Wilks, who currently leads the team in points.

"It'd be Candice, because she is by far an awesome player skill-wise and speed-wise, and I do lack speed," Greenwood admitted. "I wish one day I could have speed, and I wish I could be Candice, because she is just so fast and such a great player."

Greenwood plans to graduate in December 2004 with a degree in public health. She wants to run in marathons, compete in triathlons, stay in Arizona and go into the nursing field once her time at the UA is done.

Greenwood said an ideal end to her career would be a two-game sweep - but more than that, a good time.

"(I'd like) for every individual to play well and give their all, and by doing that, hopefully we'll get the result," she said. "But I also want everyone to have fun with the game - the game is supposed to be fun."

It should be fun but also sad, however, as the team that Greenwood has done so much for must see her go.

"She has done some things for this team that are above and beyond," Tobias said. "That kind of selflessness is something I have a lot of respect and appreciation for."