The Pleasant Valley girls’ lacrosse team has won 11 games in a row and outscored their five post-season opponents, 92-22.

Now, in a first round PIAA 3A State Tournament game, they expect to face a different kind of animal than who they have played on their schedule so far.

The Upper Dublin Cardinals come to Brodheadsville on Tuesday to face the high-powered Bears in a 5:30 p.m. match-up.

The Cardinals bring with them a 19-3 record from District 1 that is loaded with very good lacrosse teams, a concerning challenge for PV head coach Toni Bush.

“The teams from District 1 generally play a more difficult schedule than we do,” she said. “Our issue is that there are no local lacrosse teams for us to play. We try to schedule a few games from up where they are, but travel is always a factor with more than an hour’s drive to the Philadelphia area.”

On paper, the Cardinals and Bears are similar in how they play. Both teams rely on strong defenses. Pleasant Valley has allowed just 81 goals within their 21-2 record, an average of only 3.5 per game. Upper Dublin has allowed 113 goals in its 22 games — that averages out to 5.1 goals per game.

The difference is on the offensive side of the field where the Bears score nearly 16 goals a game while the Cardinals find the back of the net an average of 11.5 times.

Familiarity might dictate the style of play and possibly the outcome.

The Bears defeated the Cardinals in a first-round state tournament match-up last year.

“We know about them from that game and from film we watch,” said Bush. “We have to play faster on offense and stronger on defense because they will be no walk in the park,” said Bush. “Their advantage is having played much better competition than us.

“I call our local area ‘Lacrosse Siberia’ because there are no lacrosse programs despite our attempts over the past 10 years to try to provoke interest in Carbon and Monroe counties.”

So, how successful has Upper Dublin been this season?

The Cardinals have been ranked 18th nationally by USA Lacrosse Magazine and feature Florida University lacrosse commit Anna DiMartile.

“She’s not flashy, but she’s a workhorse,” said UD coach Dee Cross in a recent interview about her star player. “She’s going to Florida to play defense, but we need her to be a midfielder.”

The Bears will have plenty of offensive weapons for their opponent to try to defend.

To name a few, senior Devon Bush has 105 goals this season and 393 for her career. Junior Rylee Rath has shot 95 balls behind her opponents’ goalies. Senior Olivia Iandoli has 162 career goals with 139 assists.

Pleasant Valley can score with anyone in the attack zone and has the patience to not take a shot until a lane to the net opens up.

Behind the wall of her defenders, PV netminder Olivia Burger has been excellent in goal stopping 97 shots this season. She has registered two shutouts. The Cardinals have blanked four teams this year.

Coach Bush has reminded her troops about the lessons learned from the two losses they suffered this year, and that is to leave it all on the field.

“We have to amp up our intensity in this game and we have to understand that they will pressure us like we have not experienced before,” she said.

“There will be no overconfidence and should we fall behind early, I’m not worried about our girls. They have a lot of pride in Pleasant Valley lacrosse and our success speaks for itself. They have worked hard in every practice to get this far. We’ll be ready to go.”