After seven seasons as a varsity program, the Northwestern boys lacrosse team has a new head coach this season.

Marcus Janda was the program’s coach for seven seasons, starting with the inaugural campaign in 2019.

Janda stepped away at the end of the 2025 season.

This season former Emmaus High School and University of Hartford standout Tyler Corpora, who had been on Janda’s staff for three seasons, has taken over.

“Marcus ran a great program, and I want to keep a lot of the traditions that he brought to the school and built in this program,” said Corpora. “He created such a strong work ethic with these guys and a strong bond, and I want to build on that.”

The Tigers lost six players from last season’s roster but have an experienced core group. Northwestern will have most of its experience up front, which bodes well for the offense.

Tyler Kaas and Kendall Wikert were the top two scorers for Northwestern last season as a sophomore and freshman, respectively. They are both back, as are Austin Bittenbender, Hunter Greenawalt, Braxton Lakatosh and Braydon Uricchio. The midfield returns Blake Howard, Braxton Lakatosh and Logan Uricchio.

The losses on defense went a little deeper, but senior Dane Kauker is back for his second season in goal.

The biggest job the defense has is to just get used to each other, but it should be able to weather any learning curve it has early in the season.

“One thing I really love is the relationship between the team and the community here and we want to work hard and represent our community; that’s a big thing for me,” said Corpora.

Bittenbender’s personality lends itself to helping to lead and his performance on the field has had other players buying into his work ethic.

“We’re looking to accomplish another district championship,” said Bittenbender, a senior midfielder. “And to do that we need to help the young guys get better for their career and to help develop them. We’ve got a new coach, so some stuff changed, but a lot is still familiar, so that helps. [Corpora is] not really all that new to us because he’s been here as long as I have, so we know how to go about our practices and what we need to do.”

Bittenbender has been known as a defensive-minded midfielder. He hopes to be able to balance his game a little in his final high school season.

“I definitely want to score more goals and be more effective on offense,” he said. “I also know how important the defense is, so I want to be one of the guys helping to lock down our defense. I have worked a lot on my footwork and getting ground balls. Those two things are going to be important for me.”

The Tigers beat Northampton 9-8 to open the season.