PG North: Seneca Valley lacrosse unbeaten

Thursday, May 03, 2007

By David Assad, Tri-State Sports & News Service

Seneca Valley is the only WPIAL girls' lacrosse team without a loss this season.

The Section 1 leading Raiders (11-0, 5-0) have not been given much respect, however, in the rankings.

Four of the five teams in the Post-Gazette's top five are from traditionally strong Section 3 where powerhouses Mt. Lebanon, Upper St. Clair and Peters Township rule.

Raiders coach Karyn Brooks would like a shot at Lebo or USC.

"We were supposed to play Mt. Lebanon at home [in late March]," Brooks said. "The referees were there for the game and the field was set up for it, but they never showed."

Mt. Lebanon (6-3) has won three consecutive WPIAL titles and five Western Pennsylvania crowns. Prior to 2004, girls' lacrosse was not a WPIAL-sanctioned sport.

Seneca Valley played a preseason scrimmage against Upper St. Clair (7-4) and lost, 15-10. Brooks was looking forward to a second meeting during a tournament April 21 at North Hills. However, the Panthers were a no-show, much to the Raiders' disappointment again.

"We know the teams from Section 3 are very good and we'd like to play one of them in the playoffs," Brooks said.

The WPIAL tournament begins May 24. Seneca Valley graduated nine starters from last year's team that posted a 10-5 record, but lost, 15-5, to Sewickley Academy in the first round after the Raiders won their first section title.

Seneca Valley has been to the playoffs every season of WPIAL competition. It lost to Mt. Lebanon, 12-8, in the WPIAL semifinals last year; the Blue Devils finished 23-0 and were nationally ranked.

Seneca Valley has a roster with only one senior on it: starting third man Carly Conrad. The team features a group of juniors who began to play as a unit in the seventh grade. The Class of 2008 features first-home Lindsay Slavion, second-home Melissa Ball, third-home Natalie Kalnas, attack wing Roberta Miller, center Adrienne Steele, cover point Emily Carlo and point Merideth Vicente. Sophomores in the starting lineup include goalie Katy Sterling, attack wing Shannon Quail and defensive wings Ashley Adryros and Corissa Culichia.

Seneca Valley has won only one game against a team with a winning record so far this year, beating section rival Pine-Richland (7-2, 4-1), 9-7, at home on April 19. The rematch is May 14 at Pine-Richland.

"Two monumental things happened for us last year," Brooks said. "We beat Pine-Richland for the first time and we won a section championship."

The only other challenging game left on the schedule is a non-section contest Saturday against Quaker Valley (7-3), which is in second place behind Sewickley in Section 2.

A physical education teacher at Seneca Valley, Brooks has been coaching the varsity team off-and-on for the past six years, or since the second year of the program's existence. She took a season off two years ago while coaching middle school soccer in the district in the spring.

Brooks got her first exposure to the sport through her brother, Jim Brooks, who played for Franklin Regional when it won the Western Pennsylvania championship in 1995 under coach Peter Tulk, who is now the head coach at St. Vincent College.

"Mr. Tulk was a real inspiration for my brother and our whole family just grew to love the sport," Brooks said. "The intensity in lacrosse is just so incredible. I just decided to give up soccer and go with lacrosse and I have no regrets."