Northwestern Lehigh started its varsity lacrosse programs three years ago and needed a coach for the girls team. As it turns out, lacrosse coaches don’t grow on trees, and they turned to field hockey coach Lissa Opolski to coach the team.

Opolsky coached one season and then the following season was wiped out by COVID. She returned last season, but the demands of family and coaching took their toll and she stepped down following last season. This time around, athletic director Jason Zimmerman found a tree to pick a coach from and selected Bridget Cerciello, who finished her college career at St. Joe’s just last season after playing at Southern Lehigh.

“It’s kind of a quick transition, but I was ready for it and it’s a great opportunity for me to take over here,” said Cerciello. “Lissa loved the girls, and she was so excited to have somebody who knew the sport and could teach them lacrosse in a strategic sense. She has been amazing in the transition, and I am so thankful for her and what she has done for the program.”

Cerciello took it upon herself to start a club team immediately after she graduated from St. Joe’s because she saw a lack of opportunities for lacrosse players in the Lehigh Valley. She used her connections to get that program started and it turned out that she heard about the Northwestern opening through those connections.

After going winless in their inaugural season, the Tigers picked up the first win in their history last season in a 17-0 drubbing of Bethlehem Catholic. They went on to win three more games and finish at 4-14 on the season.

The team lost five seniors but has a pipeline of young players who have come through the Northwestern Lehigh youth program, which began their lacrosse teams before the high school added the sport.

“It is definitely different. Just the amount of knowledge that is being given to us,” said Emily Schultz, who plays club lacrosse during the offseason. “You could tell when you would go from club to high school lacrosse that there was less teaching. That’s nothing against coach Opolsky because she did a fantastic job and we are thankful for everything that she did, but it is different and there is more hands-on coaching.”

“There really is a great base here,” said Cerciello. “The girls are hardworking. They are passionate, and they really are ready to learn more about the game.”

Returning players this season include Emilee and Sarah Schultz, Ava Collins, Olivia Silfies and Gabbi Gober. All five have varsity experience and will look to make a larger impact with the team this season.

“I think it is important for us to be good leaders and to be there for the younger girls, especially for the younger girls who haven’t played before,” said Sarah Schultz. “It’s important just to guide them and we learned that from the previous seniors who helped us and pushed us to work hard at practice and give the game all our effort.”

Most of the team’s losses came on the defensive end of the field, which is something that Cerciello wants to stress for this year’s team.

“That is kind of the focus of what we need to work on,” she said. “We need to have girls step up and we are looking to younger players for some of that. We have some freshmen who have never played lacrosse before, but they’re athletes and can handle what we are giving them. Offensively we have a lot more experience, including Ava Collins, who was our leading scorer last year, and then Lexi Vennera and Claire Costa are juniors who contributed on the attack last season. We feel pretty good about our attacking game.”

Ironically, the season opens Friday at Bethlehem Catholic, the team that the Lady Tigers beat for their first win last season.