FARMVILLE, Va. -- Longwood University sophomore men’s soccer goalkeeper Paul Hegedus|Ashburn (Broad Run) is this week’s Longwood Male Athlete of the Week. Hegedus started all three matches in net for the Lancers last week. The 5-10, 195-pound native of Ashburn, Va., led the squad to a 0-0, double-overtime draw against in-state foe Virginia Tech on October 9, tallying a career-high eight saves in the complete-game performance. Hegedus also notched four saves in each of the team’s contests at George Mason on Oct. 6 and against Radford on Oct. 3, to improve to a .737 save percentage so far in 2012.
Question and Answer Session with Paul Hegedus and Bethany Drury
BD: What is it like being one of the veteran leaders on the team this year?
PH: I don’t really think of myself as a veteran leader. I just think of it as me doing what I can to help out the team and trying to do better this season to build up for next season.
BD: Are you helping the freshman goalkeepers out a lot?
PH: Yes, I’m doing what I can. Joel (Helmick) came back for this semester to finish up his degree, so he’s been helping us out a lot as a student coach.
BD: What has your best moment been on the field so far?
PH: Probably the Gardner-Webb game when I got my first shutout, and it was also my first full game. It ended up going into overtime, so I made a bunch of saves.
BD: What do you hope to pursue after college?
PH: I haven’t really thought of it from a soccer standpoint. If the opportunity arises to try and play professionally, I’d like to think I would pursue it. I’m majoring in physics, so I want to do engineering and that’s my main focus. I want to pursue aerospace engineering.
BD: Why Longwood?
PH: For me, it has the best of both worlds. Longwood has a dual-degree engineering program, so I get to eventually study engineering, but I still get to play Division I soccer, as well.
BD: What is your favorite Longwood tradition?
PH: Spring weekend. That is when we have our Alumni Game, so we have all the alumni come back and we get to play against them and it’s really fun.
BD: Your father played soccer at Virginia Tech. Has he been a role model to you or a coach?
PH: My dad has definitely been a huge role model and he used to coach me when I was little. I would always be so proud and amazed at the fact that he played for Virginia Tech. For a long time, I wanted to go to Virginia Tech and that’s probably where I would have gone if I wasn’t playing soccer. It makes me happy that I got to follow in his footsteps by playing Division I soccer.
BD: How did you become a goalkeeper?
PH: When I was younger, we never really had just one person as a goalkeeper, so we would all just rotate and we would spend time on the field and then spend time in goal. Whenever I was in goal, I was good I guess, so I just decided I wanted to do that.
BD: Do you have a pregame any rituals?
PH: I don’t have any superstitions. I just listen to music and focus on the game. I think about all the things I need to do during the game to make sure the team is successful.
BD: Are you involved in anything any acitvities on campus?
PH: I’m in the Cormier Honors College.
BD: What is something interesting about you, or a talent that you have?
PH: I won the USC Soccer Save of the Year contest in 2009.
BD: What is your favorite sports team?
PH: Arsenal. It’s an English soccer team in the English Premier League.
BD: Who is your favorite player?
PH: My favorite goalkeeper used to play for them [Arsenal]. His name is Jens Lehmann and he’s German.
