Sewickley Academy returned to prominence last season as one of the top high school boys' lacrosse teams in Western Pennsylvania.

Unfortunately for them, the Panthers were upset in the district quarterfinals, thus ending the program's first winning season in five years on a disappointing note.

After an 0-4 start this season, with three losses occurring against powerhouse teams from the Philadelphia, Detroit and Baltimore areas, Sewickley Academy (2-4, 1-1) appears to be back on track as one of the legitimate contenders for the first championship to be contested this spring under the WPIAL's jurisdiction.

Sewickley Academy was scheduled to play at WPIAL No. 1-ranked Seneca Valley (6-1, 3-0) last night in an important Division 1, Section 2 contest.

Tim Hastings returned last season as the Panthers head coach after a break of three years from the job. He was able to lead Sewickley to an 11-8 record and second-place finish in section play behind three-time section champion North Allegheny.

Hastings led Sewickley to its most recent Western Pennsylvania title (2001) when boys' lacrosse was governed by the Western Pennsylvania Scholastic Lacrosse Association. In the 19 seasons a WPSLA champion was determined (1990-2008), Sewickley claimed eight titles, the most of any school in this region.

Although the Panthers graduated three all-league players, Sewickley has returned its top two goal-scorers from last season in senior attacker Mac Means and sophomore Ed Lally.

Means leads the team again, scoring 11 goals in the first six games while Lally has added nine. Means will play college lacrosse at Washington & Lee University in Lexington, Va., next season. Washington & Lee is ranked No. 8 nationally in NCAA Division III this season.

"It's a team game and we structure our offensive philosophy so that the ball ends up in their sticks," Hastings said. "In order to get it to them, it has to go through a lot of players.

"We graduated a lot of good midfielders from last year, but we had some juniors who saw meaningful varsity time as sophomores and they have all stepped up this season and have done a good job distributing the ball into the sticks of people who we need to get the goals."

The midfield is led by seniors Boo Yurik and Curry Dewhirst, both playing with the team for the first time since their freshmen seasons.

"They have done a fabulous job," Hastings said.

The other prominent midfielders are juniors who lettered last season -- David Bonomo, Connor Behun and Trey Carbeau.

The defense is led by a solid group of experienced players led by senior Rob Wennemer, a Kenyon College (Ohio) recruit. The other key defenders include junior Stephen Gill and sophomore Jack Roberts.

The goaltending is shared by senior Josh Otto and junior Max Pawk.

After one-sided losses at Calvert Hall (Md.), Conestoga from suburban Philly, and Detroit Brother Rice, the Panthers lost to section rival North Allegheny, 12-8.

"That was a great game," Hastings said. "We were up 7-4 at halftime, and then North Allegheny just came out and played well after that. They didn't panic. They worked hard and closed the gap.

"It was unfortunate that we ended up losing that game. We were very disappointed after that one, so it was good that we could go out of town again to work some things out, so when we came back against Central Catholic, we had a nice result against them."

Sewickley Academy has bounced back with a win at Detroit Jesuit and at home last week against Central Catholic, 13-7, in a section contest.

"The reason we go east on a spring-break trip every year is so we can play some very stiff competition and get used to playingat a quicker pace," Hastings said. "We struggled in Baltimore [a 19-4 loss at Calvert Hall on March 25], but we definitely learned some things and then we hopped over to Philadelphia and had a great game against Conestoga [an 11-4 defeat March 27]. We just ran out of legs in the fourth quarter and that's what was the difference in the game.

"We felt very good coming back from our spring-break trip and we went out to Detroit and didn't quite get the result we wanted to get against Brother Rice [a 15-6 loss April 4], but then we played a strong University of Detroit Jesuit team the next day and were able to beat them in overtime [8-7].

"So we really felt that set us up for playing the teams in [the WPIAL]. We're looking forward to playing well in our section games we have coming up."