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Q&A With Tiffany Laskowski
Oct. 2, 2003 Michigan State's Tiffany Laskowski was named the Big Ten Soccer Offensive Player of the Week on September 29th, after leading the Spartans to a pair of conference wins. The senior scored three goals total in games against Minnesota and Wisconsin. She leads the Spartan squad in three categories, goals (5), assists (5), and points (15). In both her sophomore and junior seasons, Laskowski earned Second-Team All-Big Ten honors. She is also a three-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree. Here is how Tiffany answered some of our questions about starting as a freshman and why she wears No. 1. You've been a three-year starter at Michigan State, how is that experience helping you in your senior year? Well, coming in as a freshman, you don't really know what to expect, how physical the play is, and I've just kind of grown to learn how to beat players that are just as strong and fast as me. It's just helped me improve as a player and learn. What was it like starting as a freshman? I wanted to get right in the action and I wanted to be a goal scorer right from the beginning. It was just a little different than coming out of high school, the girls were a lot more physical and it was harder for me to run by them, because they would grab and get away with a lot more than you can in high school and club soccer. So, it was hard to get used to it, but once you get in the groove, I started figuring things out. When did you know you wanted to go to Michigan State? Not until a little bit later. I was looking around, and I wasn't really sure, nothing really seemed like a right fit for me. And then Andrea Sied, our center-defender (and fellow senior), came here and I played with her for years, and just had utmost respect for her. She was kind of my final decision to come here because I love playing with her. What's been your most memorable moment at Michigan State up until now? Probably my freshman year when we beat Michigan. How did you come to wear the No. 1 jersey? Well I had No. 20 in my first year, I didn't want it. I wanted 13, but Andi got it. I wanted No. 9, but someone else still had that my sophomore year. So, I had No. 1 when I was younger and I liked that better than any other number. I just thought it was cool. The team is off to a great start this season, what are the teams' goals and expectations for the rest of the year? Goal number one- win the Big Ten championship. We want a ring this year. That's the number one. The second would be to make the NCAA tournament, and we want to make to at least the sweet-16 this year and definitely improve upon last year. Those are our two biggest goals. What was the feeling like last year, making the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history? It was really cold! But it just felt like such a huge honor to be in the NCAA tournament as one of the 64 teams left, and we just didn't want to lose. It didn't go our way, unfortunately, but hopefully we can do it (this year). You have many impressive career accomplishments- leading the Spartan team in scoring, being a four-year starter, earning second team All-Big Ten honors, winning Michigan's 2000 Miss Soccer award- which one has meant the most to you? I guess winning Miss Soccer in high school is probably my biggest accomplishment. That, and winning the state championship in high school. Do you have any plans to pursue playing soccer once your career at Michigan State is over? Now that WUSA has folded, probably not. I want to start my career and make some money. What are your career plans?
I'm a marketing major, I want to do something in sports marketing. Hopefully I'll one day work with the (Detroit) Red Wings or the (Detroit) Lions, or some professional team.
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