There was also the inevitable adjustment opponents made to faceoff ace Mike Sisselberger, who set a Division I record by winning 79.5 percent of his draws last season. He still heavily tilts possession toward the Mountain Hawks, and his 65.9 percent rate this season (No. 3 nationally) is excellent. Still, Lehigh was forced to lean on its solid defense a little more early in the year.
Then there were injuries, including season-ending issues for midfielders John Sidorski and Justin Tiernan. With attackman Cole Kirst also shelved for the first three games, Lehigh shot just 19 percent.
“[Kirst] is obviously a captain, a senior who’s played a lot of minutes for us, but he’s also our energy guy and someone I look at as the heartbeat of our team,” Cassese said. “For the first few games, I felt like we were playing without a heart.”
Lehigh is shooting 30.6 percent since Kirst’s return, posting at least 11 goals in every game. While Kirst has 10 goals and nine assists in six contests, fellow attackmen Tommy Schelling (10 goals, 24 assists) and Christian Mule’ (24 goals, five assists) are also enjoying strong years.
“Our attack makes us go, and they all are very reliant on each other,” Cassese said. “While each of them might not be considered superstars in their own right, they are all very talented players and do different things well. Our best version of our attack is when all three of them are playing together and working off one another.”
After figuring things out after a forgettable February, the moment of truth for Lehigh’s altered preseason will come soon enough. A slow start is easier to endure if things go well in May.
Thanks to an encouraging March, Cassese thinks the Mountain Hawks are positioned to fully benefit from their approach in the back half of the season.
“I think what we’re seeing now is we’re starting to get to a point where we’re fully developed schematically and our players are starting to jell on both sides of the ball,” Cassese said.