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GREENSBORO — Western Guilford is fed up with being the bridesmaid of girls lacrosse.

The Hornets are the sixth-ranked team in the state and have already wrapped up their fifth consecutive conference title. But that run of local dominance has yielded a grand total of zero playoff wins, a thud of an ending they've been working all year to avoid as the postseason starts next week.

"They know the feeling of having all this hard work and then disappointment," head coach Becki Haislip said. "They're willing to do anything now to get where they want to be."

Western is the undisputed queen of the county where this sport is concerned, a well-oiled, well-mannered machine that's outscoring opponents by an average of about 10 goals per game.

"We have expectations to live up to now," said senior midfielder Akasha Kasper, an All-State honoree last season who will play for Queens University in Charlotte. "Coach has built the program so well that we have to carry on the streak."

The problem is that Western is almost too big a fish for the pond. Conference mates Page, Ragsdale, Northern and Northwest Guilford are all at or above .500, but the powerhouse programs from Charlotte and the Triangle that Western will confront in the playoffs are much more established. Without chances to experience that level of play ahead of time, "it's like we forgot everything we did well during the season," senior Julie Kiesel said.

A small budget makes scheduling those teams during the regular season almost impossible. The Hornets were supposed to play today at Charlotte Country Day, ranked No. 8 in the state, but had to cancel to fit in their conference games.

Though the field has leveled substantially in recent years, Haislip said she was disappointed the NCHSAA's official sanctioning of girls public school lacrosse this season failed to produce any new Guilford County teams. (Only eight of 15 play.)

Competing during the same season as soccer doesn't help, but Haislip can't figure what's kept the sport from taking off.

"If I could," she said, "I would smush it."

The Hornets entered the season with a question mark in net after All-State goalkeeper Anna Barnett moved to Texas. Senior Nora Awartani told Haislip she was "scared out of her mind" to after moving up from JV, but the Hornets are giving up an average of only five goals per game with three shutouts.

"She had some big shoes to fill," Haislip said, "and she filled every inch of them."

Kasper, one of eight seniors on the team, is the Hornets' most potent weapon. She traveled to Chapel Hill twice a week last summer to play club ball, and she scored six goals against Page last month.

"She is willing to do everything and anything for her team," Haislip said, "if that means staying after or calling younger girls to throw on the weekends or saying, 'Hey, you don't have a ride home? I'll do it.' Anything, and you don't see that in a lot of teenagers these days."

Haislip said this group feels like the one that could break through the program's invisible ceiling, fueled by the pent-up frustration of four seasons gone sour. Senior Katie Dickerson hopes so. She's endured plenty of needling about the Hornets never having what it takes in the playoffs.

"I am so ready," she said, "to say I told you so."

Contact Tom Keller at 373-7034 or tom.keller@news-record.com