DAUGHTER OF HORSEHEADS GRADS WRAPS UP HER BRILLIANT H.S. LACROSSE CAREER FOR SETON CATHOLIC WITH ANOTHER BIG HONOR (2022-07-23)

By Brian Fees
Southern Tier Sports Report
The list of accomplishments for Peep Williams is a mile long.

One of the top 5 scorers in New York State lacrosse history. A Stanford commit who has represented USA on the u18 National Team, and now the daughter of two Horseheads graduates (1989 grads Kevin Williams and Stephanie (Franco) Williams) was recently named as one of the 24 players selected for the All-USA Today High School Girls’ Lacrosse Player of the Year nominees after her standout career at Seton Catholic.

“It’s definitely exciting,” Williams said. “I always think there is nothing else and then something comes up and I think, ‘oh, my goodness, I can’t even believe it.’”

For Williams just to be on the list with the best players in the country is special.

“I can’t even comprehend it,” Williams said. “The other girls that are listed I have played with either on the USA team or on the club select team circuit and those girls are incredible. I was scrolling down and seeing my name and I was honestly surprised. It’s nice to work hard and get that validation. I am really excited to be with all of them, I respect all of them so much.

“I am excited, it’s (the lacrosse community) a small community. The lacrosse circuit it’s kind of the big names get to be named. There are some predictable ones then there are some it’s an honor to be there. When I was selected it was special, it’s never a guarantee. I’m from a small down. I’ve done enough, I’ve been around the block, but it’s still a surprise to me. I’m just a small-town girl. To get the opportunities that people from Virginia, Maryland and those hot bed areas get, it doesn’t matter where you come from, you are only as big as your hard work. I am just lucky to be able to come out of Binghamton and be able to compete with the best of the best.”

For Williams this past season was a year full of milestones.

“This year was kind of a one foot in front of another kind of year,” Williams said. “This was my opportunity, senior year, one last go around. I had records I wanted to break, but I didn’t know if some of them were attainable. I wanted to score 100 goals in a season. That was my first goal, but scoring just 100 wasn’t going to be top 5 in New York (for her career) so that was step two. 100 in a season, I did my junior year and I thought it was going to be just as easy, but when you are getting double and triple teamed it’s harder. But, I’m grateful to have those extra players guarding me, because it made me a better player. I reached 100 and then I had enough to become a top five scorer, that was number two (goal). Once I reached that I think I had seven or eight more goals after that to score 400 for my career. I took it one step at a time. I’m so excited to reach all the goals I wanted. It was a journey.

“I was really lucky to have my teammates around me who pushed me, gave me the confidence, ‘you are going to reach this goal.’ When I got down on myself, or was not having a great game, they got me back up. Being able to reach three goals, when I didn’t know any would be attainable.”

Next up for Williams will be heading to Stanford to start the next chapter of her lacrosse career.

“Stanford does have a quarter system, so I’m not leaving until Sept. 17, so that’s pretty late,” Williams said. “However, I get more time to perfect my craft and get in shape before I get there. I’m flying out to California for a Stanford Camp, they have their elite camp, the head coach, Danielle Spencer, wants all the recruits to be there. I’m going to be there pretty soon (for school), that’s going to be home, I’m ready to go. September is pretty far away, I’m trying to live in the moment with my high school season ending it’s now becoming more real, I’m excited to go. I’m ready. With everything happening slowing down with school and summer picking up I’m starting to play lacrosse with high level players and Stanford recruits. I can’t just jump right into a whole new experience when I get out there, I am going to be prepared. I’m going to use this summer to prepare me for what’s next.”

Already Williams has gotten a chance to team up with many of her future teammates.

“We actually have had an opportunity to play, the class of 2023 and 2022 recruits in the USA Lacrosse Committed Academy. Schools were paired up. Clemson was with Northwestern, Villanova was with Georgetown. Almost all our Stanford recruits were there, so we had almost our whole team there together with both recruiting classes making up 15-16 girls. We combined with UPenn (Pennsylvania), but by the end we only had two UPenn girls so it was mostly all Stanford recruits. In the finals we played Duke and North Carolinia recruits (together) and we ended up winning the whole thing. It’s a huge showcase and we are on the radar. We won by one goal and I ended up scoring in the championship. They are the ACC and they have two teams with them and they have the number one recruit in the country in 2023, so I have played with these girls before and they are basically perfect. They make me better. The girls are the same level as I am and they push me. Going to camp and playing with all of them, it’s going to be exciting.”

For Peep it’s crazy to think she’ll be heading off to college soon on the other side of the country, but she’s excited for what’s coming.

“I don’t really think it’s hit me yet,” she said. “Going away to college is a big deal for everyone, but I haven’t experienced it yet. My sister when she went to the Naval Academy it’s a four or five hours driving distance. For me, being a plane ride away is going to be tough. It hasn’t really hit me yet.

“Believe me, California doesn’t feel like New York, it doesn’t feel like home, but it feels better than that, it feels like a second home. I’m really excited to go out there. It’s everything I could have ever wished for. Every part of Stanford is what I believe in. I’m excited for it. I’m going to be ready for it. I do know where I’m supposed to be. Whether it’s 20 hours away, or two hours away, when you know, you know.”

Going to Stanford will be a little bit of starting over for Williams. She’s been the high school star athlete at a smaller school in New York. Now, she’s going to be a college athlete at one of the top programs in the country.

“I think that’s going to be the thing that’s a nice reality check for me,” Williams said. “I’ve never seen myself as a big fish in a small pond. I just try and compete with myself and try and make me the best me I can be. Ultimately that is how other people may have seen me. I gained a lot from Binghamton. It’s a great place and I’m lucky to grow up here. I will use everything I learned here in Stanford.

“I was unique around here. People called me crazy for the things I did. They didn’t understand the passion, they didn’t understand why I was doing what I was doing. That is going to be the normality. It’s why I’v been working on myself, studying into the night. I see this as an opportunity to listen more and I think I’m going to really grow. Around here I may have talked a lot, shared my opinion a ton. I’m not afraid to speak out, but when I go to Stanford I will do more listening. I may be that small fish in a big pond, but it’s my goal to be the big fish in the big point. I’m going to continue to be myself and continue to grow and grow through people like mo, or people different than me. It’s an opportunity I am grateful to get by going to Stanford.”

While Binghamton isn’t one of the nation’s hot beds for lacrosse, Williams was proud to grow up in the area, though it did require a little extra sacrifice on hers, and her families part.

“We did have to make the sacrifice of going to Rochester and playing for Monster to be on a great club team,” Williams said. “I have had so many great friends supporting me on my journey. I see it as I had some disadvantages, but my family created opportunities for me. The people around here saw it as something special. I wa able to get all the help I needed.

“Whatever it was, we all kind of did this together. If you go to a huge school it’s the norm. I got to do something special in Binghamton. A lot of people from big cities go and they are expected to be great. Here, when I started to become great people decided to be great with me. I am excited other people became better friends, better athletes, better students by appreciating my hard work.

A lot of times you hear people talk about how they can’t wait to leave their hometown. That’s not Williams. While she’s excited for the opportunities at Stanford, she loves being from Binghamton.

“There are so many people that don’t see the opportunities and just say I can’t wait to get out of here,” Williams said. “I can’t wait to get out of here. That wasn’t my initial response. Going to California, I see it as look at the opportunities I was able to create for myself. Whether I went to Monster or Team USA, I had to travel to go to those places, but I came home and people were proud of me. Being from a small town is an opportunity. Younger people, I hope they realize being in a place where just because we have less people, I hope they see it as an opportunity, I can be great and have so many more opportunities than if I’m from a big city where people expect me to be great. Binghamton is a place where when people genuinely dedicate themselves to something they are going to be recognized.”

For Williams there have been a lot of accomplishments, from the milestones, to playing for team USA, and this honor was another special accomplishment in her career.

“It’s all Glory to God,” Williams said. “Everything I have wanted to accomplish and things I didn’t even know I was up for the nomination I have gotten. I have gotten everything there has been and I can’t even believe it. Being on Team USA, I think that’s my biggest accomplishment so far and the thing I’m most proud of. A lot of things might be expected, but the things I’ve done have honestly been great.”

Before Williams leaves for Stanford in September she’s spending time working with the next generation of lacrosse players.

“I’ve been doing small group lessons at Seton and I’ve been so lucky,” Williams said. “I love every single kid I work with. It’s been a joy. Definitely seeing kids getting better is why I do it. It is exciting, I make sure I teach them the right way. I learned a lot over my years. I have learned the dos and don’t of coaching.”

Williams knows that players are all at different skill levels, and she just wants to do everything she can to help athletes anyway she can.

“Not everyone is going to grow up and be the best lacrosse player in the world,” Williams said. “If you can make them 1% better that can be a success. I’m trying to teach a lot of the younger kids the behind the back shot. It took me a long time (to learn it). I’ve don’t it enough to know the key and when the kids do it the smile on their face is the best feeling in the world.”

One thing Williams knows is that one of the biggest keys in the sport is more than a players skills, it’s also how hard they work.

“It’s hard, because I can only teach them (kids) so much, you have to have that heart,” Williams said. “Heart is something I can’t teach kids. As much as kids think it’s possible (to have the kind of success Williams has had), it didn’t happen overnight. They have to be dedicated. They have to be dedicated to drive wherever it takes them. Yes, I hope they know it’s possible, I try and share as much knowledge about what I’ve done, but it’s not easy. It takes so much personal effort or heart. It takes heart and I think that’s something all the best players have.”

And, it takes more than just hard work, it takes a support system to help an athlete succeed.

Williams had a lot of help over the years and she knows that’s something most great players have.

“I really like to see when the kids are motivated to ask me to train,” Williams said. “I love when kids and families are like, we want to get our kids better, when they ask questions. Believe me, I don’t know it all. I have been around the block and do my best to understand the does and dont’s. My support system has been everything for me. My friends and my family and Seton in general, they have been there for me. Everyone needs to go to Seton, but everyone that has supported me has been part of the reason I have been successful.”
——
PROVIDED PHOTOS