It's been said that there's a first time for everything.

The Butler girls lacrosse team certainly hopes that's true.

The Golden Tornado has never made the playoffs, including the last two years while playing in the WPIAL.

First-year head coach Joe Dippold is hoping to change that this year.

"We expect to compete for a playoff spot this season," said Dippold, who served as an assistant with Butler the last two seasons. "This team is capable of huge things. We lost (five) seniors, but this year's team is playing with increased speed and intensity."

Butler ended 2005 with a record of 0-14.

Two offensive players, seniors Cara Sabo and Susan Davidson, are part of the reason for Butler's optimistic outlook.

"Cara is the only player on the team to have played varsity for four years now," said Dippold. "She scored about 20 goals last year and is a captain this season.

"And Susan is always pushing herself. She is everything you could want in a player."

Butler's defensive leaders include juniors Yuki Schaper and Elizabeth Small, and sophomore Nicole Smolen.

Responsible for keeping the Tornado in games this year is junior goalkeeper Julie Holt, who is in her first season on the varsity team.

Butler will be playing in Section 1, along with North Allegheny, North Hills, Pine-Richland, Seneca Valley and Shaler.

Seneca ValleyAfter a one-year absence, SV is looking to get back to postseason play.And the Raiders feel they have the coach to take them there.Karyn Brooks coached Seneca Valley to two straight playoff appearances in 2003-04, the second one coming in the WPIAL's inaugural season of girls lacrosse.Brooks stepped down before the 2005 campaign and the Raiders failed to make the playoffs."I missed the intensity of the game," said Brooks. "There was an opening for the coaching position and I put my name in."Brooks will be leading a squad with a solid mix of veteran varsity players and talented newcomers.The Raiders feature 10 seniors and 12 players who are either sophomores or freshmen."We had 56 girls try out for the varsity and junior varsity teams," said Brooks. "The tryouts took a week and a half, and that kind of hurt us because we couldn't start practicing until the third week."But we've got an established feeder program now, which means we're getting a lot of younger players with experience."The mix of upper- and underclassmen will be seen on offense, where seniors Michelle Quail, Erin Bernhard and Kylie Gallagher will join sophomores Amy Cross, Natalie Kalnas, Roberta Miller and Melissa Ball to give SV a potent scoring attack.Defensive contributors should include Emily Lambert, Kara Chmara, Megan Powell, Meredith Vicente, Emily Carlo, Allison Fisher, Laura Hahn Ashley Argyros and Desiree Palmieri.Sophomore Brittany Fusco beat out three other players for the starting goalkeeper spot.

KnochGirls lacrosse has made its way to Knoch High School.The Knights will be guided by Sandi Kisic, who coached the junior varsity team at Butler the last two seasons.She encountered a group of inexperienced players eager to learn the game"The first couple of days of practice is where I saw the most improvement," said Kisic. "The girls went from not being able to pass or catch anything to picking up the fundamentals within a few practices."Once the girls get into game action, that's where they'll learn the most about the game," she added. "We do have a lot of team speed. That's one thing that will be working in our favor."The Knights' varsity squad currently features 15 players.Kisic played lacrosse during her high school days in Maryland and brings a solid background to the Knights."Hopefully, I can pass that on to the girls," she said.Knoch has been placed in the WPIAL's Section 2, which includes Fox Chapel, Hampton, Quaker Valley, Shady Side Academy, Sewickley Academy and Vincentian Academy.