Lacrosse Falls in Liberty Division Title Game

The Williamson lacrosse team, ranked #6 in the nation, knew they needed to play a near perfect game to upset host and #1 ranked West Chester University in Sunday night's National Collegiate Lacrosse League championship final. Unfortunately for Williamson and their fans, the host Golden Rams proved to be too much for the Mechanics, as Williamson fell 11-4.

West Chester grabbed an early 1-0 lead at the 9:32 mark of the first quarter.  Williamson would then tie it at 1-1 at the 4:58 mark on a goal by Chase Staley, only to see the Golden Rams score two quick goals, one at the 3:34 mark and the other at the 2:11 spot, to close the first quarter with a 3-1 advantage.

Both teams played outstanding defense throughout the second quarter.  It looked like things might end in a scoreless quarter however, West Chester score a late goal to carry a 4-1 lead into the break.

Any hopes Williamson had of changing the momentum to start the second half were quickly dashed, as West Chester just over a minute into the third quarter at the 13:59 mark to go up 5-1.  Williamson tried to get back into it just over two minutes later, as Staley added his second goal to pull to within 5-2 but West Chester would pull away for good with a goal at 6:47 and another on a man-up situation at the 4:55 mark that for all intents and purposes put the game out of reach. Matt Dickinson, who was ill coming into the game, scored the final goal of his brilliant career at the 1:30 mark to offer some hope for Williamson, leaving them down 7-3 entering the fourth period.

West Chester then scored two goals in thirty-five seconds early in the fourth quarter to go up 10-3 before Seamus Bohannon would add a nice goal off a feed from Cooper Conroy to make it 10-4. A West Chester goal with 50 second left closed out the scoring.

"It wasn't the way we had hoped to go out, but our guys gave it a good effort.  West Chester isn't ranked #1 for nothing.  Against a team like that you have to take advantage of every opportunity or they will make you pay. We saw that tonight," shared Williamson head coach Jim DeRose.

Lost in all that was the fact the Williamson goalie Jack Welsh played an incredible game in net for the Mechanics. He had 14 saves, many of which were from point blank range. He leaves and the winningest and most decorated goalie in Williamson history.

"Jack was something special tonight and all three years. His contributions to the program are immeasurable," shared DeRose.

Though the loss is hard to swallow, it cannot take away from the great year the team had.  They finished 10-4 overall and were ranked #6 in the country.  They had double digit wins in each of the last three seasons and qualified for the NCLL play-offs all three years.  The team will look to build on the momentum heading into the 2026 season.