COLLIER TWP — It appeared as though Seneca Valley's late rally would force overtime, but Franklin Regional managed one last offensive push.

The Raiders had scored three unanswered goals to tie the Panthers at 9-all in Wednesday night's WPIAL Division I boys lacrosse semifinal at Chartiers Valley High.

Seneca Valley had possession and a chance to win the game, but Panthers goalie Jon Sandness stopped a shot by Rob Fyock with 20 seconds left.

Franklin Regional (9-10) quickly moved into attack mode, and when Chris Ward fed Ben Stephens for his sixth goal of the game, the Raiders trailed 10-9 with four seconds remaining.

A final faceoff was executed at midfield, but the Raiders simply had no time for a final shot.

"One bad play doesn't make a whole season," said Seneca Valley coach Peter Hoffman. "But it is tough, after the season we've had, to lose like this."

SV's season isn't over. The Raiders (17-2) will face Mount Lebanon, an 8-7 loser to Sewickley Academy in the other semifinal, at 3 p.m. Friday at Chartiers Valley High to decide which team will move on to the state playoffs as the third-place team from the WPIAL.

Wednesday's game saw the Raiders storm back after being down 9-6 early in the final period.

A goal by Sean O'Rourke (at 7:44) and a pair by Will Koontz (at 4:42 and 1:24) pulled SV even for the first time since it was 1-all 5½ minutes into the game.

"We did not play our best game tonight," Hoffman said. "We had a lot of unforced turnovers that took away scoring opportunities.

"When you have a team that plays the zone defense that (Franklin Regional) played tonight, your passing has to be on, and ours wasn't," he added.

SV's Jake McAndrew broke the ice with a goal 3:52 into the game, but the Panthers scored the next four to take a 4-1 lead into the second period.

"In every game, we try to get off to a fast start and then play hard for 48 minutes," said Panthers coach Chris Stiles said. "The key for us early on tonight was we possessed the ball well. We kept it in their end for much of the first quarter."

Franklin Regional led 5-4 at halftime and 8-5 after three quarters.

McAndrew led SV with four goals while David Gibbons and Koontz each scored twice and O'Rourke added one score.

Chris Smallidge, Luke Stephens, Brandon Osekowski and Patrick Riesmeyer scored for the Panthers.

Osekowski contributed five assists.

Sandness made 11 saves for the Panthers and Brian Bohn had 10 for Seneca Valley.

Hoffman is hoping the 2010 season has a different ending from last year.

The Raiders lost in the district semifinals in 2009, then lost to North Allegheny in the consolation game and missed the state playoffs.

"Honestly, there's a big part of me that is worried that our guys won't be mentally ready for Friday's game," he said. "We were in the same situation last year and had trouble.

"They need to be ready to play because our season is not over," he added.