Williamstown Lacrosse Club almost completed the perfect season in the Lacrosse Victoria competition.
All of the club’s sides made it through to grand finals with every side but the under-16s winning the premiership over the past few weeks.
The club capped off the season on Saturday with its seniors and reserves claiming the respective state league titles.
State league coach Mike Sullivan said it’s pretty special to achieve something like that.
“We’re still celebrating,” he said on Sunday morning. “All the sides but the16s won which is pretty cool.
“It’s been done before, but it’s very rare. To win all the senior comps has not been done for a while either.”
In the state league final on Saturday, it was a game of momentum against Malvern.
Williamstown led for much of the game and were 10-7 up at three quarter time and seemed to be in control of the match having held strong
Malvern then got going to take the lead.
“At three quarter time we thought we had weathered the storm,” Sullivan said.
“We were then 10-12 down and needed to win the ball defensively and get the ball back.
“The last couple of minutes we were just focused on the next play.
“It was more about giving ourselves the next chance of getting the ball back.”
It was the Gibson brothers who stood up late for Seagulls in front of goal.
Cal and Harry scored the last three goals between them to put Williamstown back in front in the dying minutes.
It would be enough to get the title, with Williamstown winning 13-12.
Harry Gibson, who scored three goals for the game, was awarded the best on ground medal.
Sullivan said Gibson was also strong in defence.
He said Malvern had also a great game and were unlucky not to come away with the trophy.
“Malvern did enough to win the game,” Sullivan said. “We wanted to win and that came through.”
It’s Williamstown’s first state league title since 2019.
Sullivan said they were continuing the strong tradition of the club which has had a lot of success over the years.
“We’ve got a core group with three older guys and a lot of younger guys,” he said. “A few had won the title and a few had not won one.
“This group learned how to win it come yesterday [Saturday].”
In the earlier game in the reserves competition, Williamstown also beat Malvern.
The Seagulls won 13-9 to win that title.
With a good group of players, Sullivan said things were looking bright for the future after the success the whole club has this year.
“The future is brighter than today,” he said.
