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KINGSTON — Kate Romanowski produced as a consistent scorer throughout the season as Wyoming Seminary’s center.

What set Romanowski apart, however, was her ability to score goals at a time when they were supposed to be toughest to come by.

Romanowski was the leading goal scorer in the District 2 championship game for the second straight year, this time breaking loose for eight goals in a 13-4 victory over Coughlin.

“I think it’s a mental thing,” said Romanowski, a junior who led the Wyoming Valley Conference and District 2 champion Blue Knights in scoring to earn Times Leader Girls Lacrosse Player of the Year honors. “You just have to step up your game.”

Romanowski had five of her six goals in the second half of a come-from-behind victory over Lake-Lehman in a meeting of division champions. She had three goals and an assist in less than 5½ minutes to erase a three-goal deficit against Coughlin in a division title-clinching victory.

“The team kind of depends on people to step up in those games,” Romanowski said. “You just have to have the mentality to do that.”

Wyoming Seminary coach Catie Kersey praised Romanowski for her composure in big-game situations. Those performances were all part of the junior finishing with 72 goals and assisting on 16 others, even with defenses well aware of her presence at almost all times.

“She’s definitely a game-changer,” Kersey said. “She’s incredibly athletic and she’s smart. She moves well with the ball.

“She’s hard to stop.”

When she wasn’t using her well-developed stick skills to maintain possession, Romanowski was simply outrunning opponents in the open field, using both her speed and endurance to remain active up-and-down the field throughout the game.

“I think the speed came naturally,” Romanowski said, “but endurance just comes with running a lot in practice.

“I’ve always practiced with a bunch of my friends who are college players. I practice with them when they have to do their run tests and things like that.”

With Romanowski as the centerpiece of the team, the Blue Knights emphasized their ability to get from one end of the field to the other in a hurry.

“The transition was something that we really worked on this year,” said Romanowski, who joined Coughlin’s Brigid Wood as the only players to repeat first-team status from last year’s inaugural Times Leader girls lacrosse all-star team. “We wanted to step that up.

“It was always good in the past, but this year, we really excelled at that.”

It all added up to an even stronger effort by the program that’s won all six District 2 titles and all four WVC championships since the sport took roots locally. After losing conference games in 2014 and 2015, Wyoming Seminary returned to perfection in the WVC this year.

“I think we finished even stronger than last year,” Romanowski said. “(Kersey) just kind of expected that as underclassmen, we would step up our game and take our game to the next level.

“I think we had a great season. We had lost a lot of seniors from last year.”

Romanowski’s athletic future figures to be in field hockey. She made an early verbal commitment to a scholarship from Villanova University, but in lacrosse, which she started at the Wyoming Seminary Lower School, she’s found a sport that she can dominate on the local level.

“I think they work pretty well together,” Romanowski said of the two sports she stuck with after also trying soccer and softball on the youth level. “My college head coach, in particular, is into playing other sports and using those abilities from different sports in the field hockey as well.

“I think all the skills from lacrosse work well with field hockey.”

6/20/2016 Aimee Dilger|Times Leader
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/web1_TTL062216Kate-RomanowskiCMYK.jpg.optimal.jpg6/20/2016 Aimee Dilger|Times LeaderAimee Dilger|Times Leader

Wyoming Seminary’s Kate Romanowski led the Wyoming Seminary with 72 goals to go with her 16 assists this season.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/web1_TTL062216Kate-Romanowski2CMYK.jpg.optimal.jpgWyoming Seminary’s Kate Romanowski led the Wyoming Seminary with 72 goals to go with her 16 assists this season. Aimee Dilger|Times Leader
Wyoming Seminary’s Romanowski proves to be potent goal scorer

By Tom Robinson

For Times Leader

Reach Times Leader sports at 570-829-7143 or on Twitter @tlsports.