Syracuse men’s lacrosse: Orange add Mount St. Mary’s LSM Steven Schmitt from transfer portal

Gary Gait and Syracuse Orange men’s lacrosse are continuing their assault on the NCAA transfer portal this summer.

The Orange added to their tremendous haul with their eighth new addition of the offseason on Monday. Ty Xanders of Inside Lacrosse announced that former Mount St. Mary’s LSM Steven Schmitt will join ‘Cuse as a graduate student for his extra year of eligibility,

Schmitt, an Upstate native from Cambridge, NY, is coming off a phenomenal, career year as a senior in which he made First Team All-MAAC and was named the MAAC LSM of the Year.

His numbers were off-the-charts good as he finished the year with 97 ground balls and 29 caused turnovers, complemented by nine goals, four assists and 13 points. He averaged over 6 GBs per game, one of the best in the country by a non-FOGO, and his 1.81 CTs per game was good for 16th in the NCAA.

His GB prowess was a huge asset to FOGO Connor Beals, who finished last year second in the NCAA in FO win percentage (65.1). Hopefully, Schmitt will be able to give as big an assist to the Orange FOGOs this season as he did for Beals in 2023.

It’s going to be fascinating to see how all the pieces fit together for Dave Pietramala and ‘Cuse’s defense next season with most of their contributors from this past season returning plus plenty of new options coming in the fall.

The transfer portal is responsible for four of those new options, with Schmitt being the latest addition. Matt Wright, an LSM from North Carolina, was the first defensive piece to join up via the portal back in the first week of June. He was followed by Jake Titus, a SSDM from Division III Union, whose been an All-American each of the last two years. Also putting his name in the mix is close defender Zack Puckhaber from Division III Gettysburg, who brings size (6’3”, 225 pounds), leadership (team captain), and ability as another two-time All-American.

That brings the current offseason total to three poles and one shortie to add to fray for the Orange defense.

Elsewhere, SU has added their desperately needed FOGO in Tufts’ Mason Kohn, as well as attacker Christian Mulé from Lehigh and midfielders Jake Stevens and Sam English from Princeton.

The portal has been very kind to Syracuse’s roster building efforts over the course of the last month.

Welcome to Syracuse, Steven!