NLL Rochester Knighthawks

This Summer, Knighthawks Williams Simply the Best

Published on August 10, 2011 under National Lacrosse League (NLL)
Rochester Knighthawks News Release


(Rochester, August 10)... Rochester Knighthawks forward Shawn Williams has had a season to remember with the Brooklin Redmen this summer. Not only did he lead the Redmen into the postseason, but he won the Major Series Lacrosse scoring race.

This week, Williams was honored for his efforts during the regular season as the recipient of the Jim Murphy award as the league's most valuable player. Williams guided Brooklin to a first-round playoff bye after finishing in second place with a 13-7 record.

"It's nice and it's always a good feeling, but I would trade it all in for a series win," said Williams about the honor.

The Redmen are tied two games to two in their best-of-seven MSL Semifinal series after dropping Game 4 tonight 6-4 to the Brampton Excelsiors. Brooklin captured the first two games by identical 7-6 counts. The series has been dominated by goalies Aaron Bold (Brooklin) and Anthony Cosmo (Brampton).

"It is really exciting and really good lacrosse," said Williams. "Both goalies are playing well and goals are few and far between. It has been a really tough series."

Williams has 13 points (5+8) in four playoff games. During the regular season, he led the MSL with 120 points in 17 games (41+79) and received the Bucko McDonald award as the MSL scoring leader. It marked only the second time he has passed the 100-point plateau in his Senior "A" career. His 79 assists were a personal single-season record, while falling just five points short of achieving a single-season point mark. (2004). Williams won his fifth scoring title by 36 points over Brooklin teammate Derek Hopcroft.

The 36-year-old Scarborough, Ontario, native led the Knighthawks in points for the third time in his Rochester career. In 2011, he was also eighth in the NLL with 77 points and second in the league with 54 assists. He completed his 14th season in the NLL and 10th with the Knighthawks as Rochester's all-time assist leader.

The winner of the series will face the winner of the Six Nations Chiefs and Peterborough Lakers semifinal. Tonight, the Lakers won their third straight game to move ahead 3-2 in the series after earning a 9-7 win in Game 5. The parity is something new in the MSL playoffs and has added a lot of drama. "It's is great all around. There are four legitimate teams this year and it was been awhile since four teams have been this close (in talent)," said Williams.

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