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07/13/2017 12:00 AMWhenever the Hand boys’ lacrosse team needed someone to score a crucial goal this spring, the Tigers knew that they could always count on Liam Gottlick to answer the call. Liam racked up a ton of goals during the season, while guiding Hand to its latest appearance in a state final.
Liam, who recently graduated from Hand, was a three-year varsity letterman and two-year starter on the attack for the Tigers. After helping Hand make the Class M State Tournament final in the two previous seasons, Liam had a gigantic year in 2017 by notching 60 goals with 12 assists on his way to making the All-SCC First Team for the Tigers, who reached the Class M championship game for the third consecutive campaign.
“For me, it was not worrying too much about the opponent and just going out and playing my game. My confidence was also a big part of it, too,” says Liam on his prolific offensive output this year. “With a team sport, you need the whole team to be getting goals and helping to get you open to score. When you have a team with diversified scoring, you get more opportunities to score, because there are so many individual threats.”
Liam says that he developed more faith in himself as his high school career unfolded. He also maintained a state of mind where he never felt satisfied and always wanted more.
“My confidence has grown throughout the years, and I always try to do more than I can. I feel like I have more in me all the time. I’m always critiquing my game and trying to get better. I also liked having the leadership role as offensive captain and having people rely on me,” Liam says. “For all sports and in life, you have to have a strong mental game and know you are the best before you actually are and never defeat yourself.”
Tigers’ Head Coach Paul Deon describes Liam as an all-around threat on the turf. Deon says that Liam has lightning-fast speed and adds that he can do damage with either hand by releasing the ball like a rocket.
“Liam is one of the fastest kids on the field. Liam possesses breakaway speed, along with a very quick first step that allows him to get past defenders. This causes teams to slide defenders to him, allowing Liam to be equally as dangerous to feed for an assist or score,” says Deon. “Liam is able to pass, carry the ball, shoot, and score with his left hand or his right hand equally. He has exceptional velocity on his shot and a very quick release.”
Hand entered this year having graduated several key players from its 2016 state final squad. Although that could have been a negative for the 2017 Tigers, Liam and company took a positive spin on things and made sure that they developed into a close-knit group.
“We had a lot of seniors that graduated after last year, so we knew we would have young guys this year,” says Liam. “We brought the whole team together and made it more of a team game. That team aspect helped us have even more success this year.”
Looking back at his time with the Tigers, Liam feels proud that Hand boys’ lacrosse has established itself as one of Connecticut’s prominent programs by playing its way to the state final in each of the past three seasons.
“It was tremendous to get there three years in a row. It showed that we were able to play and compete with anyone, especially this year in the state final with New Canaan,” says Liam, who thanks his brother Owen, along with all of his coaches and teammates. “It’s great for the program to be in the top tier of competition.”