Just about every high school team has some kind of slogan on the back of their warm up shirts. While those words serve as motivation, they can be hard to live up to.

This year’s Parkland’s girls volleyball team went big with its slogan. Coming off two straight trips to the state title game, this year’s Lady Trojans chose something to reflect the fact that they wanted to return.

“The back of our shirt says ‘TLC: The legacy continues,’” said Parkland head coach Mike Krause. “That’s what those kids wanted to carry on. They knew about working hard and putting themselves out there. They saw what it took and they were willing to make that commitment.”

Despite graduating five all-state players from last year’s PIAA championship team, the Trojans knew they had the talent to continue the tradition of excellence.

They did just that Tuesday evening when they beat District 1 champ Bishop Shanahan 3-1 (25-18, 27-29, 25-21, 25-23) in the PIAA Class 4A semifinal game at Exeter High School.

After winning the first game decisively, Parkland was Shanahan open an early lead in the second game before battling back and making the Eagles work for the one game they managed to win.

Over the next two games, Parkland opened early leads and despite Shanahan cutting into those leads, the Trojans held on for the wins.

“They showed so much character,” said Krause. “They were smart. They had a chance to get nervous and they refused to. They stayed focused and driven.”

Parkland will play in its third straight state title match in search of its third straight state gold. The Trojans have played in four of the last five state title matches and won three of them (2011, ‘14 and ‘15).

After graduating much of last year’s starting line-up, this year’s team might not have come into the season as the favorite to win it all. However, the Trojans knew they had the potential to repeat.

“Even from the beginning of the season,” said outside hitter Sam Graver, who earned this year’s Eastern Pennsylvania Conference Most Valuable Player award. “Losing five all-state players we knew it would be hard coming back because we had to fill all those spots.

“Everyone else’s writing us off fueled us. We wanted to prove them all wrong. The seniors came together and the underclassmen came together and we just worked our hardest to get to this point.”

The Trojans move on to the state title game Saturday at Richlandtown High School in Johnstown. They’ll fave District 1 fifth place team Garnett Valley, which beat State College in Tuesday’s semifinal.