May 28, 2013 3 min read

After winning its fourth WPIAL Division I title last spring, the Peters Township girls lacrosse team wasn’t as confident in its PIAA opener as Indians head coach Kristin Slemmer would have liked.

Maybe one more will do the trick.

“We hadn’t won WPIALs in a couple years (since 2009), so it was a really good high to be riding, that we won it,” senior Sarah Bootman said. “That was our goal all season; we weren’t even concerned with the state playoffs.

“This year, we’re ready to advance. That’s our goal.”

Peters Township, which topped Shady Side Academy, 16-14, in last Thursday’s WPIAL Division I championship game at North Hills, opens the PIAA playoffs today with a 3 p.m. first-round game against Penn Manor at Hempfield.

The Indians played Penn Manor, located in Millersville, last year and lost, 17-13. But this group – a year older and, for some, trying to continue playing high school lacrosse – will look for a different outcome.

Peters Township should be plenty confident, too, knowing Penn Manor is the sixth-ranked team in Central Pennsylvania, according to laxpower.com, and has actually lost three of its past seven.

“Confidence is a huge part of winning the game,” said Slemmer, whose team is ranked No. 1 in Western Pennsylvania by LaxPower. “Last year, I noticed that my girls went into the game lacking some confidence, a little unsure, and you definitely saw that on the field. This year, with my girls my having an idea of who this team is, it gives us a little more confidence going into it.

“I feel like my girls should be playing with some pride, hopefully knowing that they’re representing Western Pennsylvania – a side of the state that doesn’t get represented in the state too often.”

Confidence may be a huge part of the game, but so is preventing the other team from making huge runs.

Peters Township (17-2) carried a 13-9 lead into halftime of the WPIAL final, though Shady Side Academy scored five consecutive times at one point in the second half and made it a one-goal game before the Indians rallied.

“If we do happen to get that lead of five or six goals, I’m expecting and hoping that my girls will be able to hold on to that lead and not let the other team get back into it like they did in the championship game, Slemmer said.

Bootman, Caitlin Carey, Allison Hurley and Hannah Wilcox all had at least three goals against Shady Side Academy, with Bootman getting the 100th of her career.

Bootman, Wilcox (200-plus goals) and Carey (100-plus), all three NCAA Division I recruits, give Peters Township three players who, by themselves, have accounted for more than 400 career goals.

It’s a group that wouldn’t mind getting a few more either.

“I think we’re looking forward to continuing to play with our team,” Wilcox said. “We’re looking at the fact that it’s states, but we’re also looking at the fact that it’s another game with our team.

“I know a lot of girls, especially the seniors, are getting sad that this is coming to a close. We’re just not quite ready for that to happen yet.”