Luke Kopriva knows the caliber of competition he and his teammates are about to face.

That hasn't kept him from having high hopes for this weekend at Penn State University.

Kopriva, a goalie, and three other boys lacrosse players from Seneca Valley will be taking the field for Western Pennsylvania's U15 team at the Keystone Games.

The event includes a total of 10 teams. All four SV players — which include midfielders Seth Ketler, Jimmy Border and defenseman Jake Mineweaser — are also members of the True Lacrosse club team. They are all incoming freshmen at Seneca Valley.

“For club, we travel to play teams from different areas,” said Kopriva. “We've faced some of the players we will be going up against this weekend. A lot of them are from near Philadelphia. Lacrosse is definitely more competitive out there and the players are very talented. But I believe we can win it all. We have a great group of guys.”

Tryouts for Western Pennsylvania took place in late March at Bethel Park High School. Scholastic and club coaches nominated players to take part and college coaches selected 20 players from a pool of 58 after they were evaluated.

“I know all of the SV players are standouts,” wrote Western PA and True Lacrosse coach Dan Usaj in an emailed interview. “They have been working hard with True over the years.”

Western PA's players have met every Monday throughout the summer to practice at Bethel Park.

“I am confident we are all on the same page,” said Kopriva. “We just scrimmaged the team that played at the Keystone Games last year and I thought we competed well. I'm excited to play against the best talent in the state.”

This weekend's event will give the players involved a golden opportunity to improve their game. Western PA is guaranteed at least five games.

Its performance in those contests will determine if the team competes in Sunday's medal round.

“The goal for us is to showcase the talent of Western Pennsylvania lacrosse,” wrote Usaj. “This event has a high level of competition and we want to give these young student athletes the confidence that they can play with anyone.”