Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 9/24/18
From Press Release
As attention on the program continues to rise, the Lehigh men’s lacrosse program has been recognized prominently by Inside Lacrosse, with its current freshman class being ranked No. 8 nationally. In total, the Mountain Hawks feature three of the top 64 ranked incomers in the nation. In addition, eight are ranked among the best of their positions.
“We’re thrilled that our incoming class has been recognized by Inside Lacrosse with such a high ranking and we’re obviously honored that they were able to put us in the top 10,” said Lehigh head coach Kevin Cassese. “We feel like we’re able to attract a lot of top talent to our program and I feel that we’ve been doing it pretty consistently over the years, maybe sometimes without being noticed, and it’s nice to get that notice this time around.”
As a team, Lehigh’s class was ranked No. 8 nationally, directly ahead of Cornell and Denver and behind Duke and Maryland. Lehigh’s class was ranked No. 1 in the Patriot League, ahead of Loyola at No. 15.
In the power 100, faceoff specialist Mike Sisselberger (Southern Lehigh, Duke’s LC) came in at No. 13 overall (No. 1 for his position) while defenseman Patrick McIlroy stood No. 57 (No. 16 ranked defenseman) and Tommy Schelling stood No. 64 overall (No. 19 ranked attackman).
Several others stood among the top-ranked incomers at their position: Cole Kirst (No. 29 attackman), Jesse James West (No. 35 attackman), Chad Kittaka (No. 34 midfielder), Judah Hicks (No. 27 defenseman, Moorestown) and Michael Venezia (No. 17 goaltender).
The incoming class is looking to team up with a veteran group of returnees that advanced to the 2018 Patriot League Championship Game. Leading Lehigh’s returnees are All-American defenseman Craig Chick and first team All-Patriot League attackman Andrew Pettit (Tower Hill-DE, Duke’s LC), along with first team All-League and Academic All-America honoree Conor Gaffney (Lenape, Duke’s LC) at faceoff.
“Obviously, rankings are important but how they develop is even more important,” said Cassese. “The fact that people notice they do have a lot of talent, and we obviously noticed that too, is one thing. Then, being able to take that talent and turn it into elite talent and high-level competitors is really what we’re all about. Making the best possible team out of that talent is ultimately what we’re trying to do.”
