Despite the crushing defeat, the Mountain Hawks went home for the summer knowing they had done something special under Cassese, who pushed Lehigh to a sparkling 14-3 record that included the school’s first Patriot League title. But upon the players’ return to campus, the hard- driving coach did not glad- hand. He pounced. “The first couple of
weeks were like boot camp around here,” DiMaria said. “Cassese sensed some complacency in the some of the older guys. Next thing I knew, we were getting run into the ground with the hardest conditioning work we’ve ever had. We were attacked by a storm.” Oh yes, the game has changed at Lehigh, the small school that regularly graduates future engineers and financiers in the rural Lehigh Valley town of Bethlehem. The school that is steeped in collegiate lacrosse history as one of the original charter members of the NCAA has finally grown up in the land of Division I.
Thanks largely to a pair of accomplished senior classes — last year led by twin midfielders Roman and Cameron Lao-Gosney and this year by attackmen Dante Fantoni and DiMaria — the Mountain Hawks are more than simply up and coming. With the
energetic Cassese at the helm and a Lehigh
administration that has embraced the Patriot League’s increased flexibility regarding financial aid for its student-athletes and other funding issues, Lehigh is no longer a historical footnote within the sport.
32 LACROSSE MAGAZINE March 2013 >>
U
nder Cassese, its sixth-year coach, the 2013 Mountain Hawks are moving forward with steady progress in their wake. After winning a combined 10 games in 2008 and 2009, Lehigh won a combined 15 games over the next two years, and in 2011 qualified for its first Patriot League tournament since 2006. And after finishing last season with the nation’s No. 2 defense (6.82 goals allowed per game), along with a disciplined offense that on five occasions dropped at least 12 goals on its opposition, Lehigh senses its time is near. It helps that the Hawks watched Loyola, a small school from Baltimore, win its first Division I title in school history last year. “Our mission last year was to win the Patriot League title. I don’t think we realized we could be national champions. Now, we do,” said Cassese, a 2003 graduate of Duke, where he
was an All-American player and assistant coach before taking over at Lehigh in 2007. “We’re sitting at the right table. Now, we want to rule the table.”
There is a lot of good
stuff brewing in Bethlehem. It starts with DiMaria and Fantoni, the 1-2 punch that combined for 90 points in 2012. They are the team’s top returning scorers (47 goals combined) and feeders (43 assists).
It extends through the midfield that includes Canadian sophomore finisher Patrick Corbett (18 goals) and senior captain Brian Hess and to a stout, quick- sliding defense anchored by sophomore goalie sensation Matt Poillon (59.7 save percentage, 6.75 goals against average). The cultural
transformation witnessed by the senior class under Cassese has been eye- catching. Lehigh, an ancient lacrosse school that won
or shared seven USILA championships between 1890 and 1921, had long slid into Division I irrelevance until the past decade. That began to change under Lehigh athletic director Joe Sterrett, a 1976 graduate who has run the department for the past 25 years. At the turn of the 21st
century, Sterrett positioned the school for a push in lacrosse. Funding to enhance coaching staff, salaries and recruiting and travel budgets was put in place, and the Patriot League — which does not offer athletic scholarships — began to expand its financial aid umbrella. The league allows schools to offer assistance based on need, as well as academic and athletic ability. “We’ve come a long way since the mid-1990s, when our head lacrosse coaches were coaching other sports,” Sterrett said. “We needed the resources to recruit the type of student-athletes you need to win at this level. This flexibility allows us to compete with a lot of people for good players. “It’s not rocket science. It all starts with people. You’ve got to find the right person with the right values who represents the place in the right way. We found that person. I told Kevin this would take five years. I think he was actually a little offended, because he’s so competitive.”
Lehigh senior midfielder Brian Hess
“We went through growing pains. We played in front of 20 people at times when I was a freshman, and I think they were all parents. But we could see glimpses we were getting closer.”
Cassese was 26 and still playing professionally when he took over at Lehigh. “I was feeling like we could build a national championship contender here. But I had no idea what would be needed to make that happen,” said Cassese, who was co-captain of the gold medal-winning 2010 U.S. team and now serves as Team USA’s assistant coach. “This just seemed like a place where I could settle in and have success.”
A Publication of US Lacrosse
©KEVIN P. TUCKER (ALL)
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