By Jerry Clark

Published: Wednesday, May 30, 2012, 11:22 a.m.
Updated: Thursday, May 31, 2012

When Jen Perestock arrived at Shaler as the girls lacrosse coach, she had aspirations of building a program everyone could take pride in.In her third season at the helm, Perestock guided her team into the house of the defending WPIAL Division II lacrosse champion North Hills Lady Indians in the WPIAL semifinals. The Lady Titans fell one goal short, but made a statement that the team is not going anywhere anytime soon."We are a blue collar team," Perestock said. "That is how we prepare. We just tweak a thing here or there."Shaler opened the game at North Hills with a 4-1 lead. Beth Snider and Shannon Lynch led the charge early for the Lady Titans.Then, North Hills tore off eight unanswered goals to take a 9-4 lead into the half.Shaler could have folded at that point, and nobody would have thought less of them, but the team battled back once again, scoring five-straight goals to knot the game at 9-9.Shannon Lynch, Nellie Parks, Courtney Ambrozic, Elizabeth Casertano and Snider contributed to the rally.Perestock said words can not describe how proud she is of a team that will return all but two players from this squad next year.The team will lose Casertano, who will go to Oregon on a lacrosse scholarship, the first Shaler lacrosse player, boys or girls, to accomplish a DI scholarship. Also playing in her final game was Snider, who carried the load much of the season with her senior counterpart out with an injury."They have both been my captains for each of my three seasons," Perestock said. "Elizabeth is our star, our MVP … it was hard to have her on the bench until the playoffs."Bethany stepped it up and averaged six goals a game for us. She will play at Thiel College next year."It was hard to conclude the season sooner than expected, but Perestock is proud of the team for its dedication on the field, as well as the work in the classroom."About 94 percent of our team is on the high honor roll …," she said. "This is a young group, and the future is promising."

1. Photo Gallery: Springathon at St. Teresa of Avila School
2. Photo Gallery: Bullseye’s Book Bash at the Northland Public Library
3. Millvale career fair slated to help get residents working
4. Millvale art show to feature works of school art teachers
5. Record haul recorded in Shaler drug take-back event
6. Primary info for North Hills, Ross, West View races
7. Pine-Richland prom was ‘An Evening in Vegas’
8. ‘That Guy with the Birds’
9. Sign inspections planned for I-279 in Ross and Pittsburgh
10. For the birds
11. Evening traffic restrictions set to start Monday on Duncan Avenue

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