HOPEWELL VALLEY, FC BUCKS SOCCER:Williams gets selfish with the ball as a senior

Hopewell Valley Central senior Colleen Williams signed an National Letter of Intent to play soccer at Dayton University. Williams is an outside midfielder for the Lady Bulldogs but she also plays outside back for the FC Bucks Vipers, who have signed numerous players to D-I letters this year.



Bulldog’s production propelled

Hopewell into state finals

By Steve Sherman; Sports Editor

While pro athletes like Terrell Owens, Allen Iverson and Keyshawn “just give me the damn ball” Johnson would disagree, there’s no ‘I’ in team.

That said, last fall, Hopewell Valley Central senior Colleen Williams had to learn how to be more selfish with the ball, if her Bulldogs soccer team was to have any success in the postseason.

“At times, she was too unselfish,” stated HoVal head coach John McGinley. “We went to her in her senior year and we told her “you have to stop passing when you’re open; you gotta score.”

Thanks to the offense that Williams produced, Hopewell had much postseason success, taking six-time Prep A champion Pennington team to the ninth round of penalty kicks in the Mercer County Tournament (MCT) semifinals before taking a trip to the Central Jersey Group III finals.

Down 1-0 in the state semis, William rallied her troops to a 2-1 victory over Wall township before the ‘Dawgs finally succumbed to Freehold Boro in the state finale.

Williams offensive stats for the year? A whopping 26 goals and 19 assists.

“She’s used to passing and sharing the ball and that’s great,” explained McGinley. “For us, we needed her to score goals and this year, she really did that.”

With her new attitude toward reaching the net, McGinley unleashed an offensive powerhouse in Williams, a player who combines great skills along with incredible passion for the game.

“She has a tremendous intensity and focus--very competitive, probably the most competitive kid that I’ve ever coached in any sport.

“She hates to lose and puts 100 percent on the line all the time.”

The Bulldogs trailed in both the Pennington game in MCTs and the Wall battle at states. According to McGinley, Williams almost willed Hopewell to win over the Red Raiders, a team to which she belonged her first two girls soccer seasons.

“That’s because of Colleen--she has that attitude that we’re never gonna quit,” explained McGinley. “Losing in PKs is like flipping a coin--especially when you go that deep.”

With Williams on the team, practice was easy, said the coach. All McGinley had to do was turn it into a competition.

“All I had to do was turn it into a small game of some sort and practice went great because all Colleen wanted to do was win.”

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Williams is taking a teammate with her to college and she’s not a Bulldog, she’s a viper--an FC Bucks Viper. FC Bucks defender Alysha Mallon of Newtown is headed to Dayton along with Williams.

While the two girls did look at other schools--Williams was also interested in Ohio State, UConn and Villanova; Mallon had looked at VA Tech--the pair traveled together to Dayton on an official visit.

“We loved everything about it and had a great time,” explained Williams. “The team, the coach, the campus--was all good.”

Williams got the first call from Dayton head coach Mike Tucker. Mallon followed shortly thereafter.

“Everybody on the club has been together forever and I really wanted to go [to college] with a teammate,” explained Williams. “Alysha is one of my best friends and the coach wanted both of us so it all worked out.”

And the fact that Dayton head coach Mike Tucker is much like her current club skipper Eddie Leigh at FC Bucks further cemented Williams’ comfort level.

“We’re used to Coach Leigh. He makes soccer so much fun; all we do is play. We don’t do any boring drills or anything that makes soccer not fun.

“I needed a coach that I can joke around with and have soccer not be a job.
“I don’t want my coach to be my boss.”

FC Bucks has 16 girls with either signed letters or verbal agreements to play D-I soccer. Some of those from Lower Bucks include Neshaminy senior Lyndsay Pierson who is headed to Pitt, Pennsbury senior Yvonne Moyer who is joining with Penn and Council Rock North senior Clare Roche who is going to George Washington.

According to Williams, it’s Leigh’s personality and the personal interest that he takes in his players.

“He’s known to every college coach,” said Williams. “He’s like a second father to us.
“Everyone loves him; he’s amazing.

Personalities aside, Williams also believes the Vipers got a lot of looks from college coaches because of the way in which the Bucks County team jelled. Indeed, FC Bucks earned a trip to a prestigious national tournament that took place last summer in Little Rock, Arkansas.
“The reason we went so far is because of chemistry--we just clicked.

“If you can play like that together as a team, [Coach Leigh] always says that you’ll look good individually.”

In addition to her role as the Bulldogs’ top offensive producer, Williams says she learned to take on more leadership at HoVal. And that in turn helped her at FC Bucks.

“As a captain and a senior, I knew I had to take on a different role than I do on FC Bucks.
““I knew I had to score more here and that helped me at FC Bucks. I think I became a more aggressive player after that.”

Williams’ goal is to start next season at Dayton.

And you get the feeling this high school senior has the willpower to see it through.