After three seasons at the reins of Lassiter's girls lacrosse program, it can be said that coach Faith Harmeyer has officially taken the team to the next level.

She inherited both a young, but talented program in 2008 and still managed to guide them to back-to-back state semifinal appearances.

In 2010, she took them one step further.

The Lady Trojans (18-4) exceeded last year's accomplishments as a result of maturing both mentally and physically. They went undefeated in Area 2AAAAA competition and were also perfect in the month of April before they ousted defending champion Chattahoochee by one goal in the state semifinals en route to their first runner-up appearance in school history.

For her accomplishments with the Lady Trojans, Harmeyer is the 2010 Marietta Daily Journal/Cobb County Girls Lacrosse Coach of the Year, winning the honor for the third straight season.

Harmeyer's first two seasons were spent helping Lassiter grow. After seeing her team master the basic fundamentals over the last two years, she said this season was more focused on refining the fundamentals. They tweaked their zone defense and focused on double-teams and instilled a few more plays into the playbook.

"She is a wonderful coach, and I'm happy that I still have another year with her," Lassiter defender Briana Williams said. "On the defensive side, she pushed us to have a tight zone and taught us ways to position ourselves so we can keep (opponents) out."

Being better educated, both offensively and defensively, also contributed to Lassiter's success. In 22 games, the Lady Trojans won nine by 10 or more goals and gave up 10 goals or more in only seven contests.

"This team was a lot more experienced," Harmeyer said. "We had two semifinal appearances going in. We had a lot of starters starting since they were freshmen, and the maturity paid off a lot."

Harmeyer discussed team goals with her players and talked about the obvious - winning area and winning state - but they also added short-term goals to help them get there, such as being well-conditioned and instilling team chemistry.

The maturity helped the Lady Trojans start games fast and finish strong. In previous years, Lassiter was known for starting slowly in games before surging.

The Lady Trojans had early-season losses to Chattahoochee, Milton and Westminster before peaking during spring break when they came from behind to beat Ensworth, Tennessee's top-ranked team, in double overtime. That win helped spark an 11-game winning streak that carried over into May.

Lassiter's 12-11 over Walton helped secure a 2AAAAA title and a come-from-behind win over Roswell was also included in the streak.

But the game that defined Lassiter's season was its 7-6 win over Chattahoochee in the semifinals, when they trailed by three goals at the half. The Lady Trojans responded with four unanswered goals, with Hannah Sullivan scoring the game-winner during the final minute. Allison Senft's 12 saves at goal also was clutch.

"Down 4-1 at the half, we were kind of worried," Harmeyer said. "We talked at halftime about going back out there and playing tough. We're a scrappy team with a lot of heart and a lot of 'want-to.'"