The goal at Beaver Area was always to win a section title ... whether the players believed that truly a possibility was another matter.

Now in his third year at the school, coach Gregg Gailey has his players in a completely different mindset. Fresh off the program's first section title last season, the Bobcats lost their opener to Class AAA Hopewell, 3-0, but won their next 14 matches. including all 12 in Section 5-AA to clinch the section title and finish the regular season at 14-1 and ranked No. 7 in Class AA.

Just two years ago Beaver entered the final section game of the season with a chance to win the section title.

"The girls that year didn't believe they could achieve that," Gailey said. "Last year, we came in with the goal of being section champions, but I don't know that when they started the season they believed they could do that.

"By the middle of the season they believed and now this year it was an expectation."

This season was no problem as the Bobcats rolled through the section undefeated. Neshannock was the closest team to them in the standings with a 9-2-1 record.

"I definitely see a carryover into this season." Gailey said. "The section title goal was the same but now the next goal is to go deeper into the WPIAL playoffs."

Last season Beaver defeated county rival Center, 3-2, in the first round of the playoffs before falling to Seton-LaSalle, 2-0, in the quarterfinals. A deeper playoff run this year could bring another program first to Beaver. No girls' team has ever advanced to the PIAA playoffs.

With the maturity and experience of this team, the PIAA playoffs are a distinct possibility. The roster has seven juniors and four seniors and nine total returning starters. It is Gailey's most experienced team by far in his three seasons at the school.

The only game this season in which Beaver yielded more than one goal came in the opening loss to Hopewell. Nine of 15 Beaver opponents have been shut out and the Bobcats have outscored teams, 72-8.

Goalkeeper Brianna Hallier is a returning starter in net. Gailey said she has shown tremendous improvement from the beginning of last season to this season. She has the luxury of a couple talented defenders in front of her including sweeper Madeline Monte, stopper Kat Gubish, Allie Struwe and Jasmine Clark.

"The defense is a good defense. We have girls who have dedicated themselves to playing defense back there and they are a big part of our success," Gailey said.

"But we have scored more than 70 goals, so we have some offense, too."

That offense has been given a boost by Stephanie Buckenheimer. A senior midfielder/forward, she led the Bobcats with 22 goals her sophomore season. A stress fracture in her back forced her to miss all but three games last season. This year she scored 10 goals.

"She is an offensive-minded player. I am sure she could have scored a lot of goals on other teams but we like to spread the goals around," Gailey said.

"Although the team was very successful we still missed her last season. You always miss a player of that caliber."

Another addition to the team has been senior Meghan Lavrusky, also a midfielder/forward. She transferred into the school district from Florida.

A pair of talented juniors, Shelby Lloyd and Erin Hogan, start in the midfield. Lloyd is a defensive-minded midfielder and Hogan starts on the outside. Sarah Turnley, another outside midfielder, was a part-time starter last season and contributed several key goals this season.

Beaver will await the announcement of the WPIAL playoff bracket to find out who its first opponent will be.

Mike White's "High School Sports Edition" videos are featured exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.