Mt. Lebanon opened its season against Penn-Trafford but the Blue Devils had not planned on ending it against them as well.

The Blue Devils' season came to an end Tuesday night, one game away from a trip to the Class AAA final in Hersheypark Stadium. After defeating Penn-Trafford, 1-0, in the season-opening South Hills Kickoff tournament, Mt. Lebanon fell to Penn-Trafford, 2-1, in overtime in the PIAA semifinals at Chartiers Valley.

In between they compiled an 18-3-2 overall record, won the Section 4-AAA title with an undefeated 12-0-2 record and an impressive playoff win in the state bracket against WPIAL champion Seneca Valley.

After a loss in the WPIAL quarterfinals to Upper St. Clair, 2-1, Lebo coach Jeff Holliday said his team walked away from that match thinking they had played its best game of the year as they continued to improve each week.

"That was a very tough loss for us," Holliday said. "You play well for 77 minutes and in fact dominate the game and luck has it you end up losing."

Mt. Lebanon then became huge USC fans as an Upper St. Clair victory in the semifinals against Pine-Richland would give Mt. Lebanon another shot in the PIAA tournament (six WPIAL teams qualified for the PIAA playoffs, the four semifinalists and the teams that lost to the finalists in the quarterfinals).

"We were hoping they would give us a second chance," Holliday said. "We kind of went with the attitude that in life you rarely get a second chance so make the most of it when you do."

With their second chance, the Blue Devils shut out the WPIAL champs and then shut out a strong Pine-Richland team, 4-0, in the PIAA quarterfinals.

"We had a meeting after the [Pine-Richland] game. I told the team that we not only rebounded but grew as a team after the Upper St. Clair loss," Holliday said. "We picked up two shutouts and the [Penn-Trafford] game was our game to win."

After a scoreless first half in which Mt. Lebanon mostly dominated in the attacking area, Holliday and his team made halftime adjustments. They had outshot Penn-Trafford, 8-3, in the first half but were unable to finish.

"The strength of our team has been that everybody understands their role, in what we are trying to accomplish as a team and our ability to make adjustments mid-game," Holliday said.

"At halftime [of the PIAA semifinal game], we talked about how we could take more risks in attacking and we did and we produced a goal."

Freshman forward Audrey Cillo scored the first goal of the game 25 minutes into the second half. Mt. Lebanon continued on the attack but was unable to add an insurance goal and the Warriors became more dangerous until they finally scored the equalizer with just over four minutes remaining in regulation.

"It was disappointing but that's the game. You have to play 80 minutes," Holliday said.

Senior forward Sarah Sharbaugh had been making it a habit of getting Mt. Lebanon on the scoreboard early on and she continued to pressure the Penn-Trafford defense, but despite getting off five shots on net, she was held scoreless in the game.

"Sarah has come through for us and she really sets the tone," Holliday said. "She and Jackie Molinda have been our top scorers. It's their role in the game to finish and create opportunities and they have scored some big early goals that have changed the course of the game."

Despite just being a non-conference season-opening game, Holliday easily remembers his team's 1-0 win against Penn-Trafford because it was his first game as coach of the team. The success he enjoyed did not come as much of a surprise even after only being on the job for a few months.

"I knew I was walking into a situation with a lot of talented players," Holliday said. "I see it as a players game.

"From the moment I met them, my role as a coach in my first year was just to step in and put the people in the right spots and let them go out and be successful."