Raiders' goal is to go deeper in WPIAL postseason
JACKSON TWP — The Seneca Valley girls lacrosse team knows all about regular season success.
But the Raiders want more.
SV went 16-3 last season and won the section title before its season came to a close in its first WPIAL playoff game.
First-year coach Dina Hughes is determined to get her team to the next level.
"In the past, they've made the playoffs," said Hughes, who previously was an assistant high school coach in New Jersey. "We're looking to go further than that this season.
"We've got a very talented team that has a lot of ambition and dedication," added Hughes.
Seneca Valley figures to have a potent offense, starting with senior attackers Berta Miller, Lindsay Flavion and junior Shannon Quail.
"They've all got a very strong drive and are very persistent," Hughes said of the trio. "They aren't afraid to go to the goal and they work well together."
Quail also will figure into the Raiders' performance at midfield, along with senior Emily Carlo.
Seniors Meredith Vicente and Allison Fisher and junior Ashley Argyros will lead a strong returning defensive unit.
Junior Katie Sterling, who starred in goal last season, is back to frustrate opposing attackers again this year.
Seneca Valley's Section 1 foes include Butler, North Allegheny, North Hills, Pine-Richland and Shaler.
The Raiders open the season March 24 at Fox Chapel.
Second-year coach Annie Succop finds herself trying to continue the program's improvement, but she must overcome the loss of a large senior class."We lost 10 seniors and seven of them had a lot of playing time," said Succop, whose team went 9-11 last year.Leading this year's squad will be senior midfielders Mackenzie Houk, Becca Crissman and Dorothy Steighner, senior attacker Sara Schweiger and junior defender Maggie Secunda.Is that core of players talented enough to spark the Tornado this year?"Absolutely. We're very talented offensively and defensively," said Succop. "They are all strong leaders."We lost pretty much all of our defense from last year. We're definitely more experienced on offense this year, but I'm very defensive-minded,"Succop added.With Seneca Valley and Pine-Richland the favorites in the section, Succop is optimistic her team can prove to be a formidable opponent once more."We're kind of looking to beat them this year," said Succop, who counts 39 varsity and junior varsity players in this year's group.Butler will kick off the season March 26 at Hampton.
After a 2-17-1 record in its second season as a varsity program, the Knights are looking to build the program with most of the players that were members of that first team in 2006.First-year coach Garett Butler, who was the junior varsity coach the previous two seasons, sees a lot to build around."We have 19 girls and this is the third year for most of the players," said Butler. "We're hoping that translates into more wins. We started out with no one ever playing before."The team lost two seniors from last year who were spot starters, so "there's a good nine to 10 starters back," said Butler.Leading the group will be senior co-captains Kristen Gagen (defender) and Jessica Protzman (attacker)."Each year, we get a group of new girls, and it's always important to see the leadership as they learn the game," said Butler.The Knights open the season March 26 at North Allegheny.
