Northwestern Lehigh lacrosse has gone from starting a program to winning gold medals in districts in just four seasons.

Building the program from the ground up has not always been easy, but head coach Marcus Janda will be the first to admit that he has had a lot of help. With more than just students and parents on hand last week at Lehigh University for the 2A finals, Northwestern reversed the outcome of last year’s championship game and beat Allentown Central Catholic 8-6 for their first championship.

Former players and players from the youth program were all on hand to witness the game and join in the celebration. In fact, alumni of the team were welcomed into a team picture by the current players, who understand that there were others who built the pathway to the championship.

“I remember telling those guys that were back here celebrating with us that they wouldn’t be here playing when we won our first championship, but I would never let the team forget the lessons and the hard work they put in,” said an emotional Janda. “They were living through this team tonight.”

Senior Austin Sosnovik has put down more than a few bricks on that pathway to a championship. Sosnovik scored the 100th goal of his career this season and is the program’s all-time leader in goals and points. He also holds the record for the most points and goals in a single season. He scored the first goal of the title game.

Much of the credit for the win goes to junior goalie Bailen Smargiassi, who made 15 saves in the game for Northwestern Lehigh. The junior has already made 200 saves for the team in his high school career and has another season to add to the total. He also brings with him a link to the start of the program.

“My brother (Noah) was on the team two years before me, from the beginning, and I was on the team for one year with him. He pushed me a little further and pushed me harder,” said Smargiassi. “This is for him. This is for all the alumni. This is for us. This is for coach Janda and all the other coaches. This is for the whole program.”

After Sosnovik’s opening goal, the Vikings scored the next three goals and led 3-1 at the end of the first quarter. Those three goals would equal the number of goals that Central Catholic would score in the rest of the game thanks to Smargiassi and a rugged Tigers defense.

A new offensive scheme put junior Devon Hildebrand in a better position to score goals and it worked, as Hildebrand picked up his 10th goal of the season just 16 seconds into the second quarter and Blaine Snyder tied the game at 3-3 just 15 seconds later.

“That change worked well for us,” said Sosnovik. “We didn’t want to be the same team that we were when they saw us the first time and we wanted to come out with new sets and catch them off guard and I think we did a good job of that.”

The Vikings came right back to snap the tie with a goal 1:49 seconds into the second quarter. Sosnovik added his second goal of the game and 66th of the season to tie the game and Cade Christopher’s goal with 6:29 left in the second quarter gave Northwestern Lehigh a 5-4 advantage.

The Vikings got their third-quarter goal with 8:49 remaining to tie the game, but Christopher added an unassisted goal, his 30th goal of the year to give the Tigers a 6-5 lead after three quarters.

The same story followed into the final quarter as Central Catholic go the first goal to again tie the game, but Sosnovik added his third goal of the night and his brother Stone put a shot between the legs of Vikings goalie Vince Probst to give the Tigers an 8-6 lead and wrap up the scoring.

The on-field celebration had to be cut short because the field had to be cleared for the 3A championship – which was won by Freedom – but it continued away from the field.

The season continues with the team’s first trip to the PIAA tournament, which gets underway on Tuesday. The opponent and site for the first-round game have not been announced.