Seneca Valley girls' soccer coach Dave Sylvester considers himself a lucky coach.

Fresh off winning the school's first WPIAL title in girls' soccer, Seneca Valley comes into the season with all but two starters back from last year.

The Raiders were ranked No. 3 in Class AAA in the Post-Gazette preseason rankings and opened their season with a 2-0 win against Franklin Regional and a 5-0 win over North Hills in their section opener.

They have a veteran defense with returning starters Barbie Rohm, Jenny Jergel and Aleisha Rees playing with freshman Reagan Dobbins. Rohm and Jergel are four-year starters.

"That is huge," Sylvester said of starting out with two four-year starters on defense.

"Just their experience and what they have been able to accomplish since they have come to our program. For Reagan to break in as a freshman with a back line like we have gives the younger girls a reason to keep fighting and wait for their chance."

In the midfield Katherine Messmer, Shayna Else, Lauren Royal and Brianna Meurer are all returning starters and three-year starter Karisa Fernandez is one of three forwards along with junior Kate Kelly and sophomore Mandy Cerminara.

"Hopefully like any other season we can put [last year's success] behind us," Sylvester said. "We have tried to downplay that. What happened last year happened last year.

"The girls are doing a pretty good job with that and they are a pretty level-headed group of kids."

Last season Seneca Valley finished second in Section 2-AAA after a late-season 2-1 loss to eventual section champion Pine-Richland. The only starters who graduated from that team were Logan Gamelier and Becca Pecora, both were three-year letter winners.

The Raiders still managed to fight through the playoffs knocking off teams such as Peters Township and Penn-Trafford en route to a 2-0 win over Upper St. Clair for the WPIAL Class AAA championship.

They suffered a letdown three days later, however, losing to perennial power Mt. Lebanon, 2-0, in the first round of the state playoffs.

"We were a little disappointed how the whole state game went, but [Mt. Lebanon] was a better team that day," Sylvester said. "They took it to us, we were still celebrating [the WPIAL championship].

"Hopefully, we will be lucky enough to get to that position again this year. We learned a lot from that experience but we can still look back and be proud because the girls accomplished something that had never been done at the school."

Sylvester also has the luxury of two experienced goalkeepers. Sophomore Kiara Lydon was in net for most of the games last year and junior Ashley Wack also saw significant playing time. In the season opener against Franklin Regional each was in net for a half of shutout soccer.

"The fact that we can defend with that experience on top of what we have in net is big," Sylvester said.

"Kiara experienced a lot of success as a freshman and to have Ashley there, too, is important. To have two quality goalkeepers and the talent we have all around, I am a very lucky coach."

Much like last year, Sylvester hopes his team can get off to another quick start and build up confidence again. Last season Seneca Valley did not lose a game until Sept. 29, its 11th game of the season. It was a 4-2 loss to a Peters Township team they came back to defeat in the WPIAL playoffs.

"We are going to have to be focused, just like last year. We are in a quality section with a lot of good teams," Sylvester said. "We have some out-of-section games we scheduled against pretty good opponents and that should help us get ready.

"Like I said, last year is last year and this year is this year. [All of our opponents] knows what we have coming and they will give us their best.

"Hopefully, we can respond to that."