Lehigh’s preseason strategy percolated for a few years. Kevin Cassese saw the Mountain Hawks come back to campus in early January, only to hit a wall in April. They’d found enough to make it to the Patriot League final in both 2018 and 2019 but couldn’t push through to the NCAA tournament.

Then came last season, and one of the rare silver linings of an altered schedule during a global health emergency. Lehigh couldn’t start practice until February 1 but went on to reach the postseason for the first time since 2013.

Why not try something similar again, Cassese wondered. So the Mountain Hawks didn’t begin preseason work until January 20, about two weeks later than plenty of schools.

“The plan for that was that we wanted to be better late in the year,” Cassese said this week. “It takes some time for that to develop. The other side of being great later is you’re not as good early, and we sure weren’t. We struggled early. We dropped the Hobart game and dropped the Cornell game. I don’t think we played particularly well in a win against NJIT.”

But since that 1-2 start, Lehigh (6-3) has rattled off five victories in six games. The Mountain Hawks 4-0 in the Patriot League entering Sunday’s date with Bucknell, including a triumph at Army last month, and appear to have worked through several issues that bedeviled them in the season’s early stages.

For starters, clearing. With just 23 days between the first practice and the season opener, simply getting offensive and defensive systems in place meant other elements of the game were not as prioritized. Lehigh cleared at just a 79.7 percent clip in its first seven games but went 39 of 41 in victories over Binghamton and Lafayette last week.

There was also the inevitable adjustment opponents made to faceoff ace Mike Sisselberger, who set a Division I record by winning 79.5 percent of his draws last season. He still heavily tilts possession toward the Mountain Hawks, and his 65.9 percent rate this season (No. 3 nationally) is excellent. Still, Lehigh was forced to lean on its solid defense a little more early in the year.

Then there were injuries, including season-ending issues for midfielders John Sidorski and Justin Tiernan. With attackman Cole Kirst also shelved for the first three games, Lehigh shot just 19 percent.

“[Kirst] is obviously a captain, a senior who’s played a lot of minutes for us, but he’s also our energy guy and someone I look at as the heartbeat of our team,” Cassese said. “For the first few games, I felt like we were playing without a heart.”

Lehigh is shooting 30.6 percent since Kirst’s return, posting at least 11 goals in every game. While Kirst has 10 goals and nine assists in six contests, fellow attackmen Tommy Schelling (10 goals, 24 assists) and Christian Mule’ (24 goals, five assists) are also enjoying strong years.

“Our attack makes us go, and they all are very reliant on each other,” Cassese said. “While each of them might not be considered superstars in their own right, they are all very talented players and do different things well. Our best version of our attack is when all three of them are playing together and working off one another.”

After figuring things out after a forgettable February, the moment of truth for Lehigh’s altered preseason will come soon enough. A slow start is easier to endure if things go well in May.

Thanks to an encouraging March, Cassese thinks the Mountain Hawks are positioned to fully benefit from their approach in the back half of the season.

“I think what we’re seeing now is we’re starting to get to a point where we’re fully developed schematically and our players are starting to jell on both sides of the ball,” Cassese said.