Seniors Honored; Mechanics Upset
It was a celebration before Friday night's NCLL Liberty division play-off game against The College of New Jersey, as Williamson honored its 10 senior lacrosse players and their families. Unfortunately for Williamson, the celebration stopped there, as TCNJ grabbed momentum early with a quick 3-0 lead and never looked back on the way to a 12-7 upset win.
Williamson came into the game ranked #2 in the latest NCLL Division II poll, while TCNJ was ranked #11, but the Lions looked far better than that. They came out aggressively and scored two goals within the first three minutes to go up 2-0. They would add a third before Williamson would strike back with two Matt Dickinson goals to close the period out at 3-2.
The teams would trade goals to start the second quarter, with the Lions scoring at the 14:18 mark and the 10:28 mark, while Williamson added goals by Rob Wagner and Matt Dickinson's third goal to keep it close. The Lions then added a goal at the 6:47 mark and then added a dagger with just 35 seconds left in the half to go up 7-4 at the break.
Williamson did not go quietly, as they tried to mount a comeback. They scored at the 13:50 mark on Dickinson's fourth goal, and then another at the 9:12 mark by Konnor Oreskovich, but TCNJ answered quickly, taking advantage of a man-up situation on the first goal at the 8:09 mark and then adding another to go back up by three with 4:04 left in the quarter.
Matt Dickinson would add his fifth goal quickly in the fourth, but again TCNJ answered right back. They then would add two more goals to close things out and advance the conference finals next weekend against the winner of the West Chester/Drexel contest.
"I feel bad for our players, coaches and fans, as this was not the outcome we had hoped for, but it still can't take away from the outstanding season these guys had. They have so much to be proud of. We also cannot thank our seniors enough. They hung in there from their freshman year when things were not good, to this year where we set the record for consecutive wins. What they did, will never be forgotten," shared Williamson head coach Jim DeRose.
"And you have to give TCNJ credit. They played a great game. We picked a bad team to play our worst game of the year against, and they took full advantage of it."
The loss ends Williamson's season at 11-1.
Prior the game, Williamson honored its 10 seniors and their families for Senior night:
Joshua Kirkpatrick
Al'ante Shepherd
