There was a time when Sewickley Academy was the premier program in boys' and girls' lacrosse in Western Pennsylvania.

The boys' team, however, has fallen on hard times. The Panthers were 2-16 this spring, their third consecutive losing season. They failed to make the WPSLA tournament for the first time.

The girls' team did well, advancing to the WPIAL semifinals, where it lost to Peters Township for the second year in a row. But it is not the force it was when it won 10 local championships in 12 years, through 2001.

It has become increasingly difficult for a small-enrollment school like Sewickley Academy to maintain a championship-caliber team against public schools with much larger enrollments.

"[Public schools] can select out of a [much larger talent pool]," said Cheryl Ann Lassen, the Sewickley girls' coach. "Those schools can select among 80 or 90 kids, while we can't do that. But it doesn't mean we can't compete. We're still in a good situation."

Indeed. Lassen had 29 players on her varsity and junior varsity rosters, and the varsity prospered.

"We lost a couple players to season-ending injuries, but managed to find a few young players who stepped up," Lassen said.

Sewickley Academy (16-6) shared the Section 2 title with Shady Side Academy, then reached the WPIAL semifinals before falling to Peters Township, 6-5, in overtime last Thursday.

The Panthers held a 5-3 lead midway through the 25-minute second-half period. It was the third one-goal loss of the season for Sewickley Academy.

"[Peters Township] has come a long way," Lassen said.

The Panthers were led by an exceptional senior class. Three of the four senior starters are headed for collegiate competition. The lone exception is midfielder Brittany Urick, who will go to Princeton for academic reasons. Urick had a team-high 43 goals. She was one of six players to tally at least 20 this season.

Midfielder Elise Kaye, who is headed to Wesleyan College in Middletown, Conn., and attacker Katherine Mock (Roanoke College in Salem, Va.) were scoring threats as well. Kaye finished with 31 goals and Mock scored 23. Senior goaltender Cassi Carley will play at Stanford.

Five juniors started: attacker Capri Coury (22 goals); midfielder Emily Urda (35 goals); and defenders Meredith Hippert, Gretchen Lally and Jose Innamorato. All five started in 2005.

Sophomores who saw considerable playing time were attacker Kaylee Rafalko and midfielders Olivia Knotts (32 goals) and Rachel Lenchner.

"We had a lot of strong players who worked together," Lassen said. "It was nice to have multiple scorers."

Reserves who got a lot of playing time were junior defender Katie McConahy, junior midfielder Kelly Thomas and freshman midfielder Lauren Bonomo.

After losing to Peters, Sewickley Academy rebounded by winning three of four games at the Midwest Schoolgirls Lacrosse Association tournament hosted by Birmingham-Seaholm, Mich., last weekend.

Sewickley defeated Sacred Heart, Mich., 11-5; Cranbrook-Kingswood, Mich., 8-4; and Detroit Country Day, 9-2, to finish in fifth place. The only Midwest defeat was to eventual champion Western Reserve Academy, Ohio, 8-6, in the quarterfinals.HIGH SCHOOL LACROSSE