All Saints Academy Lacrosse Player Sara Williams Named ITG Next Florida Female Athlete of the Month for May 2023
After a special finish to a phenomenal high school career, All Saints Academy senior lacrosse player Sara Williams has been voted the ITG Next Florida Female Athlete of the Month for May 2023. Williams received 54.44% of votes over a list of three additional finalists.
Williams’ impact was evident on an All Saints Academy lacrosse team that made the 1A state playoffs. In 14 games, she ranked among the state’s leaders with 140 goals, and she also compiled 23 assists and 163 total points for the Lady Saints. Williams’ average of 10.0 goals per game also ranked among Florida’s best this spring.
“Sara was our leading scorer,” All Saints Academy head lacrosse coach Aricka Ward said. “There are games when she single-handedly would beat a team by herself with the points she put on the board, and she was our main draw girl. She took draws for us, and would win the possession, and without the ball, we wouldn’t score. She was the reason why we won a lot of our games.”
Williams’ impact was especially evident in April, a month that included a Class 1A-District 6 title, a combined 4-1 record, and a regional quarterfinal appearance. She ranked among the state’s goal leaders for the month with 54, while also adding 9 assists to bring her monthly point total to 63. Williams also had three double-digit goal performances during the month, including a season-high 18 goals in a 28-3 win over Winter Haven on April 4.
“I’ve been coaching Sara since she was in sixth grade,” Ward said. “She has always been a very competitive athlete, and she is self-motivated, so skills have developed in her. She’s always had leadership qualities that have made her kind of set apart from her peers and have put her in the position to be as competitive as she is now.
“Outside of that, she has not changed much,” Ward added. “She was a dynamic sixth grader who started on the varsity program never playing, and she walked out of her career just the same.”
A talented multi-sport athlete, Williams not only impressed this past year on the lacrosse field, but also on the basketball court as well, averaging 20+ PPG for the Lady Saints during the 2022-23 season. She also played volleyball and softball during her high school career. The variety of sports has only helped her game on the lacrosse field, according to Ward.
“Hand-eye coordination is huge, and she understands the different advantages of transitioning the ball from playing basketball,” Ward said. “She was a really competitive softball player, and I think because she wasn’t over-committed to lacrosse until really her junior year [she played softball and lacrosse at the same time until then], I think she wasn’t burnt out, and that gave her that love and passion to continue to play the game.
“A lot of players that start as young as she has, and stick with the same program over time, burn out before they get to that college level, and they’re not playing. They don’t want to go on, and she didn’t. She understands how to be competitive, and that comes with playing sports her entire life.”
Once again, congratulations to the All Saints Academy lacrosse team’s Sara Williams, the ITG Next Florida May 2023 Female Athlete of the Month.
