The Seneca Valley girls lacrosse team made the most out of its first season in the WPIAL.

Under new head coach Christie Albright, the Raiders are hoping to take another step forward in 2005.

Seneca Valley qualified for the district playoffs last season and, following an opening-round win over Peters Township, fell to eventual champion Mt. Lebanon in the semifinals.

The Raiders posted an overall record of 13-4-1 in 2004.

That team was led by coach Karyn Brooks, who stepped down following the season. Albright was approved for the position in January.

A recent graduate of Franklin Pierce College, Albright played four seasons of lacrosse at the New Hampshire school.

She was impressed with the number of Seneca girls who wanted to play.

"We had 42 kids show up to the first practice," she said. "We ended up having tryouts. Now we have 17 girls on both varsity and junior varsity."

The vast majority of this year's team is made up of juniors, 12 of them, in fact.

Junior attackers Desiree Palmer and Erin Barnhard will lead the offense.

"Desiree is a level-headed player," said Albright. "She's always out there making sure the other players are where they need to be. And Erin has some awesome stick skills.

"The level the juniors are playing at did surprise me a bit."

Seniors Megan Powell and Laurie Lindner will head the defense.

"Getting back to the (WPIAL) playoffs would be a huge boost for the team," said Albright.

The Raiders will play at Peters Township Monday.

The Golden Tornado girls are coming off a 3-9 record last year, when they did not compete in the WPIAL because the team wasn't sponsored by the school district.That all changed last August, when the school board approved to allocate $8,500 to the girls lacrosse program for the 2004-05 school year. The team was admitted into the WPIAL soon after.Now that off-the-field issues have been resolved, the Golden Tornado can concentrate on the challenge at hand: navigating through a season with 23 of the program's 39 players coming from the sophomore class."For about 50 percent of the kids, lacrosse is a brand new sport," said Butler coach Julie Baccanti. "But they have a good attitude and are willing to work hard."After losing 14 seniors, the squad will be led by senior attacker Jane Resnick, who, with 17 goals, was the leading scorer in 2004."Skill-wise, she is the best player on the team," said Baccanti. "She's always been an unselfish player, but this year she needs to put more emphasis on scoring."Junior attacker Cara Sabo should also figure into most of Butler's scoring chances in 2005.Seniors Lindsay McFarland and Megan Alexander will lead the Golden Tornado's defensive effort.Senior Summer Doctor will start in net for the third straight year after averaging 15 saves per contest a season ago."Summer has been pretty consistent for us," Baccanti said. "She will end up being as good as the defense is. She's faced a lot of shots and I feel that once our defense picks up, her play will also improve."The Golden Tornado open the season next Thursday at North Allegheny.Butler and Seneca Valley both compete in Section 1 with 10 other teams, including Fox Chapel, North Allegheny, Pine-Richland, Shaler, Quaker Valley and North Hills, among others.

This is the year that Wayne Jaeckle has been waiting for.The Seneca Valley coach has a wealth of talent returning a season after the Raiders won the Western Pennsylvania Scholastic Lacrosse Association's Division II title.Senior attacker Peet Poillon is back after scoring over 100 goals last season. He will be counted on to lead the team as it makes the jump to Division I."Peet has a shot to be named All-America this year," said Jaeckle.Senior goaltender Rob Beauseignuer will lead the Raiders' defense. He already has decided to continue his playing career at St. Vincent College in Latrobe."He's started since his freshman season," said Jaeckle. "He brings a lot of leadership to the team and is probably one of the top two goaltenders in all of the (WPSLA)."Defenders Kevin Creedon and Mike Johnson also return to make opponents' path to the net a difficult one.One key player the Raiders did lose was attacker Chad Melberg, but Jaeckle is confident junior Ben Cormier can fill the void."This is our year," added Jaeckle. "We will lose 15 seniors from this year's team. Our goal is to win it all, but I think we can at least be one of the top three teams in Division I. Our top competition will be Mt. Lebanon, Shady Side Academy and Sewickley Academy."The Raiders open the regular season April 4 at Hampton.

For the Golden Tornado, 2004 was a season to build on.Butler finished last year with an overall record of 8-9 and 6-2 in Division III play.The team made the playoffs, where they lost in the first round to Shaler. The Golden Tornado will make the jump to Division II this year."We lost a lot of talent," said Butler coach Chaz Bolte. "But in the end, I think the move up to Division II will benefit the team. We've got a lot of young players and the experience will be good for them."Sophomore midfielder Zach Reiser is the team's leading returning scorer, tallying 26 total points from 2004.Other key returnees include senior midfielder Justin Karam, sophomore defender Chris Blakeley and sophomore midfielder Adam Bresnahan, who totaled four goals and six assists last season.Butler's goaltender will be sophomore Dan McPherson, who was a defender for much of last season but did manage three starts in net and stopped 54 percent of the shots he faced.Sophomore defender Mike Horsman should also play a key role in the defensive end for Bolte."Our goal is to get the kids to play a higher level of lacrosse," he said.Bolte counts Pine-Richland, Pittsburgh Central Catholic and Hampton as Division II's top teams.Butler opens the season April 2 at Winchester Thurston.