Five Ward Melville Athletes Announce College Commitments

Decked out in their college hats and shirts, five Ward Melville seniors announced Thursday they have signed collegiate letters of intent to play Division I athletics.

Athletic director Erin Blaney lauded their accomplishments at a signing ceremony on Thursday morning. "What they've achieved is extraordinary," she said.

Tyler Hegarty and Sean Cleary will both head to UMass to play lacrosse, while James Cashen will head to Siena and Jessica Liberty to Old Dominion, also for lacrosse. Shannon Lampe will swim for Binghamton.

"We try to prepare them in the way that the sports are competitive. They're demanding in terms of commitment and time," Blaney said. "We try to create as much of the same experience that they'll have at the college level."

For Hegarty and Cleary, the coaching staff and consistent strength of the UMass program appealed to them both. It's an added bonus that they'll be playing together.

"It won't be much different," said Cleary, a 6-4 midfielder. "We've been playing together since second grade."

Hegarty, a 6-4 attack, picked UMass over Penn State, Fairfield, Navy, and Notre Dame. Cleary's other options included Duke, Navy and Lehigh.

Cashen, a 5-10 defender, chose Siena over West Point, Stony Brook and Western New England.

"They have a pretty good upcoming team, so I'm looking forward to coming up and playing with them," he said.

Liberty, a 5-9 attack/midfielder, will head to an Old Dominion program which made it to the NCAA tournament last year, choosing the Monarchs over Richmond, UMass and Binghamton. She feels well-prepared for college-level competition.

"They train us in the off-season and they work us really hard in season so we know what to expect for the future," she said.

Lampe, a 5-11 swimmer who is the reigning county champion in the 100 back, chose Binghamton over Lehigh and Villanova.

"Our swim team is really strong, so that's going to be a benefit when I go to Binghamton," she said.

Blaney said more college athletic commitments are expected to come later in the school year.