Northwestern Lehigh boys lacrosse head coach Marcus Janda had good reason to celebrate after leading the team to its first district championship in just its fifth season.

Janda admits that he has watched the video of that game more than once or twice, but you get the feeling he has put that video away and will not be pulling it out to watch during the season. It’s not that he is not proud of the team, but it’s more of a “what have you done for me lately” point of view.

“Don’t get me wrong, last year was incredible and we accomplished what we set out to achieve,” said Janda. “But when we rolled out here in the beginning of March, last season was over and the 2024 squad hasn’t accomplished anything yet.”

With that attitude as a backdrop, the focus turns to this year’s edition of Northwestern lacrosse and just what it may be able to achieve.

The Tigers lost key players from last year’s team but still have a lot of experience to draw from with seven seniors on this year’s roster. Janda is keeping four freshmen to start them on their journey to being the leaders of the team down the road.

The Tigers have midfielder Devon Hildebrand and attackers Stone Sosnovik and Blaine Snyder returning but need to replace the 66 combined goals by Cade Christopher and Austin Sosnovik from last season.

“In high school athletics, it’s a dynamic that you are going to lose guys and have other guys stepping up every year,” said Janda. “We’ll miss the athleticism of Cade Christopher and the leadership of Austin Sosnovik and Cody Hallock, Ty Meck, and guys like that and you don’t replace them, you just look for other guys to step up.”

Goalie Bailen Smargiassi returns for his senior season in 2024 after setting a team record with 215 saves last season. When he makes his first save of 2024, Smargiassi will reach the 400-save milestone for his career. His full-time playing days started with the graduation of his brother Noah in 2022.

In last year’s district final, Smargiassi got some revenge when the Tigers beat Central Catholic after the Vikings beat Northwestern in the finals a year earlier with Noah in goal.

With the program entering its sixth season and having success, a lot of Northwestern students have taken to playing lacrosse and learning from scratch. Some play other sports – primarily football – and have learned what it takes to win on the football field but have had to learn how to win at lacrosse.

Last season helped in that process with the Tigers winning districts and then going on to win a game in states before exiting in the quarterfinals.

“The thing that stands out most to me with a young program is learning how to win tight games,” said Janda looking back on last year’s championship.A couple years ago against a quality opponent, I don’t know if we could have killed off six-plus minutes to hold on and look like the mature program that we looked like in that game.”

After opening against North Penn, the Tigers have six straight EPC teams on their schedule including home games against Bethlehem Catholic, Pleasant Valley, and Emmaus. The stretch also includes a rematch of last year’s district final when Northwestern plays Central Catholic at the Salisbury High School stadium on April 3.