Syracuse men’s lacrosse: Orange add former Tufts FOGO Mason Kohn from transfer portal

The wait for a FOGO in the transfer portal is officially over for Syracuse Orange men’s lacrosse.

On Friday afternoon, it was announced that the Orange have added former Tufts face-off specialist Mason Kohn as a graduate transfer for the 2024 season, according to Ty Xanders of Inside Lacrosse.

Kohn is coming off a phenomenal senior season for Tufts in which he won 71.6 percent of his draws (255-for-356) and picked up 184 ground balls on his way to being named the Division III Face-Off Player of the Year.

Also scoring seven goals and three assists this season, he was a huge factor in helping Tufts to an undefeated season en route to a 17-12 loss in the national championship game to Salisbury. He did everything he could in defeat, however, going 15-for-19 with a goal in the title game.

Kohn comes to ‘Cuse after a very interesting, two-sport career at Tufts, where he played both lacrosse and hockey for the Jumbos. He actually started his collegiate career focusing on just hockey before picking lacrosse back up in his junior season.

After joining the lacrosse team in 2022, he faced-off at a 57.1 percent clip (109-for-191) with 81 ground balls as part of a three-player committee on face-offs. But this season, he took over the lead duties on restarts with an impressive 356 attempts as he served as the fire starter for the highest-scoring offense in Division III (20.35 goals per game).

Kohn’s services are desperately needed for a Syracuse team that barely kept their heads above the 40 percent success line in 2023. As we all know, this past season, the Orange were dreadful as they finished the season 64th in the country with a 41.9 winning percentage.

Kohn, who sports tremendous size at 6’0”, 215 pounds, steps in to become the veteran presence for an otherwise relatively young FOGO room. Johnny Richiusa (105-for-252, 41.7%) and Jack Fine (79-for-181, 43.6%) are both slated to be back, and the unit will be further bolstered by the addition of incoming freshman John Mullen, a four-star FOGO out of Norwell HS in Massachusetts. Jake Spallina, Joey’s younger brother, is another incoming four-star with face-off experience who could factor in.

Add in the additions of LSM Matt Wright and all-around midfielder Jake Stevens as potential wingers, and the ‘Cuse FOGO unit is likely to have a very different look in 2024.

Kohn becomes the latest addition to a very impressive transfer portal haul this summer for Gary Gait and the Orange, who have now brought in six new players, all of whom are grad transfers. It started late in May with the announcement that Princeton midfielders Jake Stevens and Sam English would be coming to ‘Cuse for their extra year (although English apparently has two while he works on his MBA). The next week, we got news of Lehigh attacker Christian Mulé following in Cole Kirst’s footsteps to the Hill, and just a few days after that that UNC LSM Matt Wright was joining the party.

The Orange have also added a commitment from another Division III player in Jake Titus from Union. Like Jake Stevens, Titus is a two-way midfielder who will probably factor in as a SSDM for ‘Cuse. Last season, he scored 14 points (11G, 3A) while scooping up 42 ground balls and causing five turnovers. Each of the last two years, he was named a Second Team All-American by Inside Lacrosse.

Welcome to Syracuse, Mason and Jake!