The first two years of the Gary Gait era were as uncharacteristic as it gets for Syracuse Men’s Lacrosse (0-0, 0-0 Atlantic Coast Conference). For the first time since the Orange first made the NCAA tournament in 1979, SU missed the dance in back-to-back years. But now, in year three, the expectations are at an all-time high for Gait, and just like last year it all starts against Vermont (0-0, 0-0 America East Conference).
In the 2023 opener, the Orange crawled past the Catamounts 7-5. SU won just 43% of face-offs against UVM. The trend of struggling at the X continued all season long for the Orange who finished the season with the 9th worst face-off percentage in the country.
Gait knew that this needed to be addressed in the offseason, “We talked a lot last year about face-offs so we got some new faces in that area… We have a six-man face-off team and we’re hoping we improve on those numbers.”
One of those new faces is the Division Three face-off player of the year Mason Kohn. The 5th year played just two years of collegiate lacrosse at Tufts, focusing on Hockey his freshman and sophomore seasons. 2023 was Kohn’s only full year with the Jumbos lacrosse team and he won a staggering 71% of draws.
Joey Spallina, the reigning ACC freshman of the year, had high praise for his new FOGO, “He’s a relentless worker and he’s got the hockey mindset. He’s up very very early with me and we’re getting our work in.”
If Kohn wins face-offs, he will have an unbelievable amount of offensive firepower to work with. In addition to Spallina, the Orange return 50-point scorer Owen Hiltz at attack and the trio of Finn Thompson, Michael Leo, and Luke Rhoa who all scored double-digit goals as freshmen last season. In addition, Jackson Birtwistle is back after scoring 27 goals last year.
The incoming players are what can make the SU offense dangerous though. A pair of transfers from Princeton, Jake Stevens and Sam English are set to turn the Orange offense into a juggernaut. Both were named all-Americans with the Tigers.
“We have a ton of talent on offense and I’m just waiting to see them play.” Coach Gait said, “We’re in a position we haven’t been in the last couple of years where it's tough to pick the starting lineup.”
Syracuse hopes that its new additions along with the returning stars start the season strong on Saturday. The opening draw is at 4 p.m. You can tune into WAER 88.3 FM at 3:30 for McClurg Remodeling Countdown to Face-Off.