UPDATED: April 27, 2020 at 6:10 p.m.

Syracuse attack Stephen Rehfuss became the fifth men’s lacrosse player to announce he will use the NCAA’s extra year of eligibility on Monday. After a shortened 2020 season where he scored two goals and tallied 18 assists, Rehfuss will join Drake Porter, Danny Varello, Jamie Trimboli and Peter Dearth in returning for a fifth year.

“It was a pretty easy decision knowing that I wanted to come back and play and pursue that goal of a national championship,” Rehfuss said on a Zoom call with reporters. “I’ve worked my entire life to get to this point, it was my childhood dream, so I couldn’t really pass it up.”

Over his four years at Syracuse, Rehfuss notched 132 points and, when the 2020 season was canceled on March 12 amid the coronavirus outbreak he ranked third nationally with 3.6 assists per game. The last week of the season, he was named Atlantic Coast Conference offensive player of the week after dishing out seven assists against Johns Hopkins with a short-stick defensive midfielder on him.

“It’s particularly useful to have Stephen throwing passes on one side of the field when you have Jamie and Chase, who are shooting outrageously high percentages right now,” midfielder David Lipka said on March 10. “It’s very beneficial to have someone who can put them in those situations.”

With Rehfuss’ decision, SU’s top three attack — Rehfuss, Scanlan, Cook — will now remain intact, a group that combined for 25 goals and 27 assists over five games for Syracuse in 2020. Joining them will be the same top two midfield lines, as well as a freshman class that includes Owen Hiltz, a midfielder and the No. 3 overall recruit in his class.

This post has been updated with additional reporting from senior staff writer Arabdho Majumder.

Published on April 27, 2020 at 12:42 pm

Contact Andrew: arcrane@syr.edu | @CraneAndrew