Soccer, Lacrosse
Favorite athlete: Kayla Treanor
Favorite team: Philadelphia Eagles
Favorite memory competing in sports: My sophomore year when my team upset Wissahickon in a downpour rain and mud game.
Most embarrassing/funniest thing that has happened while competing in sports: The most embarrassing thing that has happened to me was my freshman year I accidentally fouled a player in the soccer box on my team’s Senior Night game and let them score. My team ended up losing that game.
Music on iPod: Pop and Rap
Future plans: I plan to attend Saint Joseph’s University to play lacrosse and study Integrated Health Services.
Words to live by: “Let it be a lesson – don’t take anything for granted because it can all be taken away in a blink of an eye.” –Nick Bond
One goal before turning 30: To be married, have my life set up and have plans to travel the world.
One thing people don’t know about me: I rode horses for five years as a kid.
By Mary Jane Souder
Lindsey Smith is a team-first player.
If that sounds cliché, it is. Until you consider the Springfield Township senior’s offer when her lacrosse team was without a goalie last spring.
“Last year when we didn’t have a starting varsity goalie, she volunteered to play,” coach Maggie Canavan said. “I thought she was kidding at first, but she was serious.
“She would do absolutely anything to win or put her teammates in a position to win.”
Making Smith’s offer so remarkable is the fact that she is not a player looking for a way to get on the field. Rather, she is a soon-to-be four-year varsity starter who made a verbal commitment in February of her sophomore year to continue her career at St. Joseph’s University.
Smith is a dynamic player and last year led the Spartans with 72 goals. She also led the team in draw controls and is a force at both ends of the field.
“She’s a go-getter,” Canavan said. “She’s the biggest leader on our team, and she’s been that way since her freshman year.
“She’s extremely coachable and just her passion for the game – she wears her heart on her sleeve, she’s extremely aggressive, she works hard. She’s just the first player to do anything that I ask, and the way the younger kids look up to her is also very admirable too.”
Respect is something Smith has also earned on the soccer field.
“Lindsey’s a versatile player, and she plays anywhere on the field we need her,” Spartans’ coach Suzette Wolf said. “Wherever she plays, she’s the strongest player on the field physically. There are very few people that could match her as far as her physical strength.”
A four-year varsity starter, the senior captain’s natural position is sweeper.
“That is where she excels and shines, and although she’s great at sweeper, we’ve had to move her all over the place,” Wolf said. “We can only play defensively for so long before we start letting up goals and then we need to get some.”
Talent and a team-first attitude are just the tip of the iceberg for Smith.
“Lindsey is not only an outstanding athlete but a dedicated student and friend as well,” Wolf said. “She is admired by her peers, her teammates and anyone who comes in contact with her.
“Lindsey gets the job done on and off the field and she never complains. She is hard working and believes that winning is important, but for a team to be successful they need to have integrity, unity and teamwork. Her goal is to be the best she can be at whatever she does.”
*****
Smith grew up in a family that loves sports. Both her mother and father competed in sports, and her aunt played a sport at the collegiate level. The Spartan senior began playing competitive sports when she was six years old, and she didn’t just play one or two.
“I started with soccer, swimming and lacrosse, and I kept adding more,” she said. “I did track, cross country and basketball. I played a bunch of clubs, and it was hectic.”
When she arrived at high school, Smith narrowed her choices down to soccer and lacrosse with swimming the last to go.
“I wanted to play a team sport because I loved playing with a bunch of people and working together,” she said.
Smith, a member of STEPS Philly Elite club team for the past four years, is an impact lacrosse player for the Spartans, last year surpassing the 100-goal mark and earning first team all-league honors.
“She scores a lot of goals, but she’s one of our best defenders as well,” Canavan said. “As a younger player, she definitely led more by example. Even last year, she was more of a vocal leader. She was not afraid to speak up and say things the team needed or things they needed to work on.
“She’ll always look at it and say, ‘What can we do to make this better?’”
It’s the same story on the soccer field.
“She’s always trying and wants to find the answer – what can we do to make this happen and beat them?” Wolf said. “I taught her when she was in eighth grade. She’s a really strong academic student, and she’s the same kind of student she is as an athlete.
“She overachieves academically, doesn’t ever miss an assignment, studies for every test. She’s in all honors classes and doesn’t try to take anything less than the maximum workload. She’s that kind of kid.”
Although Springfield sometimes struggles to compete against much larger schools, Smith doesn’t back down from the challenge.
“We go to practice every day, we work hard,” she said. “We know we’re in a big league and we struggle a little bit.
“We like to have fun, but obviously, we want to win too. We don’t like losing. Before every game, we have a little talk and say – just go out there, do your best, be supportive of each other and just be there for each other. Trying to keep everyone as a whole unit really is key.”
Smith especially values the friendships she’s made along the way competing in sports.
“I definitely like playing with my friends and creating friendships I would never thought I would have with different girls,” she said. “We’ve created a really good bond with all the girls on the team, so we’re friends outside of sports, and we get along really well.”
Next year, Smith will major in Integrated Health Services with plans to pursue physical therapy in graduate school, following in the footsteps of her aunt who is a physical therapist.
“I shadowed her at work last summer, and I got to see what it was like,” Smith said. “I just thought it was really interesting because it’s kind of related to athletics as well.”
Smith chose St. Joe’s from a final list that included Duquesne, UConn, Boston University and La Salle.
“When I was looking at first, I didn’t think I wanted to stay close to home,” she said. “St. Joe’s was actually the last school I visited. I thought I was going to see what it was like, but when I fell in love with it, I didn’t care about the location any more because I just liked it so much.
“I definitely liked the campus, and I liked being in the city. I liked the coaches and the team. I shadowed them and went to classes and I just thought it was the best place for me.”
A member of the principal’s honor roll, Smith last year received a Congressional Scholar-Athlete Award.
“Lindsey dedicates herself to whatever she is doing and she achieves success because of it,” Wolf said. “Whether she is playing lacrosse or soccer, she gives 100 percent and is extremely coachable, honorable and above all, a very talented young lady.
“She’s a great kid. They don’t come any better. She’s the best captain – she’s such a leader, a team organizer, a motivator and all those adjectives.”
