Nick Watson has not been playing lacrosse since 1880, because he is only 24 years old, but he has been playing for the past decade. Now a Senior at Adelphi University, Nick got his start playing for one of those club teams that began over 100 years ago.

At age 14, a couple of years after giving up on his soccer dreams, Nick stumbled on to the sport of lacrosse. After a couple of years of playing basketball and following the NBA, Nick was able to try lacrosse in school. Seeing how the sport brought together all of the skills he had obtained from soccer and basketball, Nick was immediately hooked. "Once I saw highlights of the best guys in the states, I knew that I wanted to play lacrosse at a high level. It just looked like so much fun because it had everything from the sports I had already played and more." He quickly joined the Rochdale Lacrosse Club, and although he didn't know it, was on his way to becoming a star.

In four short years Nick had gone from picking up the sport to becoming the youngest player on the English National Team. In 2008, at just age 18, Watson joined the team and finally saw official action 2 years later in the 2010 World Games, which were held right in his home town of Manchester. It was here that Nick burst on to the lacrosse scene. Although at that time England was just starting to become competitive as a team, it was very clear that Nick had what it took to compete at a level that his teammates could not, and people took notice.
After hearing about Watson from one of his players, Head Coach Rick Sowell at Stony Brook University took a look at Nick's highlight tape on youtube and immediately liked what he saw. Watson was than offered a scholarship and jumped at the chance to play the sport he had grown to love, at the most competitive level. The fear of picking up and leaving everything he knew never crossed Watson's mind once. "I knew after the World Games that I was pretty good, but once I realized that a Division 1 school over in America wanted me to play for them, I didn't think twice."

Nick packed up his things and enrolled in Stony Brook University in the fall of 2011, ready to take on the challenges ahead. After playing against some of the best players in the World during the World Games, Nick had gained enough confidence to know he belonged on just about any field, or pitch, he stepped foot on. It was this confidence that led him to see his first action in Stony Brook's second game of the season against the defending national champion Virginia Cavaliers. "It was definitely nerve racking to line up against a team like Virginia, but once the whistle blew, it was just another game."

Watson would end the 2012 season with 14 goals and 4 assists for a total of 18 points, helping the Sea Wolves reach the first round of the NCAA tournament, eventually losing to the storied Johns Hopkins Blue Jays. After the season, Coach Sowell moved on to become the next Head Coach at the United States Naval Academy, and it was than that Watson knew he too wanted to move on. Upon being contacted by Nick, Coach Gordon Purdie knew that Watson was someone he wanted to have on his roster.

Coach Purdie could relate to the challenges Nick had faced up to that point and knew there was a toughness there that he needed to have. In the late 1980's Coach Purdie had travelled a similar path, coming all the way from Australia to Adelphi University, eventually becoming one of the best midfielders in the history of the sport. "After going through my time at Adelphi, I was able to better understand how important it is to have your family and friends around you, and how hard it is to give up time of your life with those people to follow your dream. Nick's ability on the field speaks for itself and he has helped us a great deal, but his ability to face those other challenges head on and his maturity, is the real reason we wanted him to be a Panther."

Watson transferred to Adelphi University this spring and has proven to be every bit the leader that Coach Purdie hoped he would be, on and off of the field. When asked about what makes Watson such an integral part of the Panther's success, Assistant Coach Joe Catalanotti replied "First and foremost, Nick is a great kid, but besides that he brings leadership to our offense through his ability to calm everyone down. Throughout the season, time and time again, when we need a big play or need to stop another team from going on a run, Nick is always in the right place at the right time. At this point, the coaching staff and the players know that when we need to get it done, Nick is one of our many guys who has the ability to step up and do it. He's been that player this season on numerous ocassions, and I am very confident he will continue that trend throughout this upcoming playoff run we hope to go on. We pride ourselves on being a complete team, but I'm not too sure where we would be right now without Nick Watson."

In a very short amount of time, Nick Watson has gone from a spring semester transfer to an impact player on a Panther team that is frequently making strides in this years success and the Adelphi record books. Those "numerous occasions" that Coach Catalanotti spoke of include running out the clock as time expired to secure an 8-7 season opening win over #4 ranked LIU Post, the overtime game-winning goal in a 10-9 victory over rival Le Moyne snapping a 12 year losing streak, and a one goal three assist performance for a combined four points in an 11-10 win over Merrimack. Nick Watson has gone on a long journey to get to where he stands today, and has sort of made a living of being in the right place at the right time. Whether it be on a field in Manchester against Team USA, or standing on the back door waiting to finish off an overtime thriller, Nick has been there.           

This past weekend, not even a thunderstorm could stop Nick Watson from leading the Panthers to an NCAA Quarterfinal win over NYIT. The game started out with the Panthers pouncing on the Bears 4-0 early in the first quarter but was than suspended for over an hour. The teams came back out of the locker rooms and picked up exactly where they left off, with Adelphi finishing the half with 10-3 lead. The game ended with the Panthers capturing a 14-11 victory as Nick tallied 4 goals and 1 assist in the game, continuing what has seemed to be a constant this year; when Nick has a good day, the Panthers have a good day.
As this year wraps up, the Adelphi Panthers Men's Lacrosse team hopes to win two more games, the last of those being on Memorial Day weekend, and cap off what would be one of the best seasons in program history with a National Title. The second step in that journey is this Saturday at 4pm on Motamed Field in Garden City, NY on the Adelphi University campus against the #3 seeded and Northeast-10 rival Le Moyne Dolphins. The two teams have already squared off twice this season, splitting the series 1-1, with the Dolphins getting the latest win with a 7-5 victory in the NE-10 Championship Game. This weekend will be the third time this season that Le Moyne will have to travel to Garden City to take on the Panthers. When asked about the last game, Nick, had this to say "The last time we played these guys they did a good job of keeping us from getting the looks that we normally want to get. That said, this time around we are hoping to impose our style a little bit more and not let them control the pace of the game as much. We are the #1 seed, and they have to come here to try and beat us, not the other way around, and hopefully this time the flow of the game reflects that. But they are a great team and I wouldn't expect anything less than a great game."

The 2013 Panthers are a group of young men who pride themselves on being a family, often ending in-game huddles with the mantra "We and Us", "Together", or "Family". In the span of 4 short months, Nick Watson has become a very special member of that family, and hopes to remain in the right place, at the right time, in order to guide his new found brothers to a championship. Although the last matchup against Le Moyne did not turn out how Nick and the Panthers had hoped, he and his teammates still have a chance at redemption, a chance that will be improved greatly with Nick Watson spearheading the attack. Whether it is shaking his defenseman out of his shoes, leading by example, or just having a knack for making big plays, you could say lacrosse is becoming elementary for Nick Watson. Not bad for a kid from across the pond.