Aubrey Williamson was on her sister Jess’ back … because Aubrey had Jess’ back.
Jess, a DelVal sophomore recently named to the All-MAC Freedom soccer second team, was sharpened by her sisters. Aubrey plays for Lycoming; older sister Kristin played at Elizabethtown. Jess’ youngest sister, unable to play competitive athletics, “comes to all of our games and supports us at all times,” Jess shared.
Despite the fierce competition – mom wore one DelVal and one Lyco sock when the schools clashed in October – sisters help each other out.
Jess scored 14 goals in her first seven collegiate games. She tallied five last September against Rosemont, tying the DelVal record, and followed it with consecutive hat tricks. It was a tremendous start, but it meant Williamson’s anonymity abruptly ended.
“I always had my sister on my back and competing with me, so that helped me. We’re very competitive,” Jess said. “We’re always out in the backyard and we go to the field together.
“My high school coach holds private sessions for college players, and that gave me a big jump on everyone,” Williamson added. “I got to compete with collegians before I got here, so I could adapt to this level.”
Williamson ultimately ended last season with 17 goals – ranked 18th in all Division III – and six assists. “I was already a target at the end of my freshman year going into conference play. I still wanted to play hard, score and contribute,” Williamson remembered, “and I think that attitude set me over the top. I knew I was going to get bullied on the field.
“Playing over the summer with new competition helped me coming in this year. Over this summer, I was really focused on handling pressure: staying up top, getting my shot off, being able to turn with a defender on my back because I always had someone on my back,” Williamson continued. “Having someone on you at all times is very frustrating so I focused on the mental aspect of the game a lot.”
Interestingly, the landscape architecture program attracted Williamson to DelVal. She has since switched her major to psychology, which has already paid dividends on the soccer pitch. Psychology “is a big aspect of the game, and you don’t realize it until you’re playing,” Williamson noted.
Williamson added 14 more goals and five assists this fall. While Emilie Replogle’s school record of 230 career points looks permanently insurmountable, Williamson already ranks fourth in DelVal career goals and fifth in career points. She has an excellent chance of graduating second all-time in both.
“There are a lot of really talented players out there but a lot of those players,” observed Aggies head coach Ben Wilson, “when they’re in the situation that Jess is in and are being bullied on the ball, can disappear from the game or do stupid stuff on the field. Her competitiveness is the biggest factor. She is really fast, athletic, aggressive and strong.
“There were two times this year where she scored a goal as she was being tackled, and the referees told me later ‘If she hadn’t scored that goal, she would have gotten a penalty kick.’ She stayed on her feet and still finished the goal,” Wilson added. “That’s not typical.”
A Lititz product, the highly athletic Williamson also started nine games for the Aggies’ basketball team last season even though “soccer has always been my main sport. I always loved the game,” Williamson said.
An under the radar prospect from Warwick High, Williamson was recruited to Doylestown by former coach Joe Nemzer, who left the Aggies last season after Maryland hired his wife Meghan to be their head coach.
Wilson is continuing what Nemzer started. DelVal posted a 13-21-1 record over Williamson’s two seasons. It is the most Aggie wins over consecutive campaigns since 2008-09.
“Fortunately for Jess, Joe recruited a good core group of young players,” Wilson credited. “Unfortunately for Jess, the gap with him leaving and me being hired didn’t leave time for recruitment. If we had more time for recruiting, we could have given Jess more help up top.
“But we’re in a good spot and continuing to build,” Wilson added. “Psychology is the big thing that Jess as captain and I are working on with the team. DelVal traditionally has not been a super successful soccer program. We have a lot of talent and were in a lot of close games this year. It’s developing that winning mentality of staying positive when things don’t go your way.”
As Wilson rounds out his roster, he does not need to worry about center-forward for at least two years. “On most teams, five or six goals is a good turnout,” Wilson pointed out. “For Jess to score 17 and 14, that’s a big accomplishment against whatever level she is playing.”
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