Three-time defending Western Pennsylvania boys' lacrosse champion Mt. Lebanon began this season 0-3, but has since turned things around by winning 10 of its past 12 games heading into the first round of the WPIAL playoffs.

The Blue Devils (10-5) were scheduled to play host to Sewickley Academy (9-6) last night in the first round. Mt. Lebanon concluded the regular season schedule with a 9-5 win at Sewickley Academy last Friday.

Mt. Lebanon began the season with high expectations due to a solid nucleus of players returning from last year's championship team, but got off to a slow start after losses to Franklin Regional, North Allegheny and Western Reserve Academy.

"I think you can say this about players as well as coaches, but sometimes you think all you have to do is show up and it's going to be easy," Mt. Lebanon coach Kee Joe Song said. "But the past is the past and we know that everybody wants to beat us and we're going to get everybody's best effort. We weren't ready for that at the beginning of the year."

Mt. Lebanon regrouped and finished tied with Franklin Regional for first place in Division 1, Section 1 with identical 6-1 records. The Panthers won the tiebreaker, however, to determine the first-place team in the playoff matchups.

Mt. Lebanon got a first-round home game, but had to play the Section 2 third-place finisher rather than the fourth-place finisher. Franklin Regional (9-6) faced fourth-place Shady Side Academy (6-9) in the first round.

The only losses for Mt. Lebanon after the slow start occurred at Section 1 champion Seneca Valley, 10-5, on April 24 and at Orchard Park (14-1) by a 15-7 count May 2. Orchard Park is one of the top teams in western New York. Orchard Park is ranked 16th out of 365 schools in New York, the state that produces the most NCAA Division 1 players in the country.

"A lot of our guys had to learn how to play a different position because we tried midfielders at attack and attack players in the midfield to try and generate more offense," Song said.

Through all the extra work in learning other positions, Song said, "Our stick skills have gotten better. And when your stick skills get better, you can control the play better. We're a more skilled team than we were at the beginning of the season."

The top returning players include junior goaltender Will Round, senior attack Dan Roman, sophomore attack Bijan Firouzan, senior defenders Ian Thompson and John Galbreath, junior long-pole midfielder Nick Rebisa, sophomore Scott Allen and senior midfielder Chris White, recruited to play at NCAA Division 1 powerhouse Princeton.

There are several first-year players who have played key roles in the team's turnaround, most notably three freshmen, attack Pat Donnelly, midfielder Jake Shure and defender Dylan White, the younger brother of Chris White.

The Mt. Lebanon girls' team won titles the first three seasons of WPIAL lacrosse when it became a varsity sport for girls in 2004 after the Blue Devils had also won Western Pennsylvania Schoolgirl Lacrosse Association championships in the two seasons prior to the WPIAL taking over the administration of the sport.

Song would like to see the boys at Mt. Lebanon do likewise because this is the first season the WPIAL has had jurisdiction over boys' lacrosse. Mt. Lebanon won the last three championships under the banner of the Western Pennsylvania Scholastic Lacrosse Association, including a win against Seneca Valley in last year's title game.

"Our players have grown up knowing about the WPIAL and the prestige it carries," Song said. "It's always been nice to say it when we've won a Western Pennsylvania championship, but to win a WPIAL championship would make it a little more special. We'd like to be the first team to win it that way."