Ernest Mensah Jr. won the 2023 Big East Championship with Xavier, helping its backline allow zero goals in the run. After transferring to Syracuse, he's looking to do the same with SU. Joe Zhao | Senior Staff Photographer
Etched on Ernest Mensah Jr.’s right thigh is an inch-wide, black-and-white diamond tattoo. Three lines jet from the gem’s bottom to its crown, dividing it into four sections. Its black shading makes it pop when it’s not hidden by Mensah’s clothing.
It isn’t any ordinary tattoo. In 2023, before Mensah’s sophomore season at Xavier, he and the rest of the Musketeers’ starting defenders made a bet. If Xavier won the Big East Championship, they’d each get some ink. After they claimed the title with three consecutive tournament wins, Mensah ensured they saw it through.
Four days later, once the Musketeers’ season ended, they each got the jewel — which represented their 4-4-2 diamond formation — inked on different spots of their bodies.
“It was more of a joke at first, because we were so far away,” Mensah said of the bet. “But I think as we went through the season, it started getting more and more real.”
The conference championship was the crowning moment of Mensah’s three-year Xavier career. The Naperville, Illinois, native served as its starting right back and chipped in a goal and three assists. His success led to a 2024 All-Big East Third Team selection. Before his final year of eligibility, Mensah decided to transfer to Syracuse, where he’s using his experience to solidify the Orange’s backline.
“(He knows) what it takes to win a championship,” former Xavier defender Makel Rasheed said. “So bringing that experience from Xavier and mixing that with guys at Syracuse will only help them go far in the ACC.”
Ernest Mensah Jr. strolls along the sideline during SU’s game against Duquesne. Mensah has excelled in one-on-ones and added one assist with Syracuse, building off his Xavier career where he logged 52 starts. Griffin Uribe Brown | Social Media Editor
This season, Mensah has been one of the Orange’s best defenders. After he finished his Xavier career, he boosted his game at Asheville City SC this summer. Asheville City coaches Scott Wells and Mathes Mennell said they could comfortably plug Mensah in at left back, right back or on the wings.
The environment was new for Mensah. For once, he wasn’t immediately the best player. But Mennell said that prepared him for the same feeling at Syracuse.
“For all these guys at their home schools, they’re Sharpies when it comes to the first 11,” Mennell said. “So putting them in an environment where they’re not necessarily a Sharpie, where they’ve got to fight, is the best way to earn their spots.”
That experience boosted Mensah to a strong start at SU. Alongside Chimere Omeze, Garrett Holman and Tim Brdaric on SU’s backline, he’s stuck like glue to attackers. He operates best against wingers, often driving them to the goal line and cutting off crosses. Mensah even assisted Holman’s goal against Cal.
Most of that success stems from Xavier — a school he almost didn’t attend.
As a senior in high school, Musketeers head coach John Higgins called Mensah’s club coach to express interest after watching him play in an Ohio tournament, his mother Christina Osei Agyemang said. A few days later, the two drove to Cincinnati to visit Xavier.
But with Xavier having so many returners, Higgins had no scholarships left. Mensah and his mother initially worried about the cost. But without many other offers, he took the best chance he had.
“He wanted to play soccer in college,” Osei Agyemang said. “I said, ‘Okay, we’ll find a way to pay the school fees.’”
As soon as Mensah arrived at Xavier, he desperately tried to make a strong first impression. So, he exerted himself to the max.
Before the 2022 campaign, the players needed to run a mile in under eight minutes with a minute-long break, Rasheed said. Mensah passed with seconds to spare, sapping every ounce of his energy.
Rasheed said Mensah couldn’t even walk afterward. The team called an ambulance to transport Mensah back to Xavier’s athletic facility. After he returned, Xavier put him in an ice tub to reduce his soreness. Trainers had to hold him up to stop him from drowning, with Mensah too exhausted to do so himself.
He carried that same dedication throughout his Xavier career.
Rasheed said Mensah was more advanced than most freshmen. He earned a starting spot alongside fellow first-year defender Dylan Kropp, who said that Mensah had the maturity and knowledge of a 23-year-old.
But Mensah’s offensive prowess stood out. The Musketeers’ right backs are always part of their attack, former Xavier reserve defender Owen Siewert said. Mensah — who entered with offensive experience from club soccer — thrived in that role.
“You need diverse players that can play in different positions and do well in different parts of the field, and he was the guy that could play all up and down the line,” Kropp said.
Mensah’s abilities sparked Xavier’s title-winning 2023 campaign. The Musketeers entered the playoffs with a 7-3-5 record, while a backline headed by Mensah and Rasheed allowed fewer than one goal per game. Their preseason bet started coming to fruition.
It became a reality with Xavier’s Big East Tournament run. The Musketeers began by eking out 1-0 wins over then-No. 21 Akron and Providence to advance to the championship game versus then-No. 3 Georgetown.
Mensah knew it was “do or die,” his mother said. The Musketeers craved revenge over the Hoyas, who’d previously beaten them 3-1. Despite the pressure, she told her son to stay true to his game.
“Just do what you do best — defend, sending your crosses, precision passes, all that,” Osei Agyemang told him.
“Mom, we’ll do it,” Mensah replied.
But it initially didn’t seem like he could follow through on that promise. Midway through the second half, Rasheed reaggravated a nagging groin injury and exited the matchup along with another Xavier defender.
Mensah slid into Rasheed’s position at left center back. Mensah was unfazed. When Higgins told him to make the switch, he gave his coach a thumbs-up. He knew what he needed to do.
Back in Illinois, Mensah’s mother said she was “terrified” once she saw the change. Her son was Xavier’s last line of defense. She prayed no one got past him for an uncontested look on goal.
But Mensah was flawless. For the third straight game, despite leading a depleted backline, Mensah helped the Musketeers record a clean sheet.
“All my life I’ve just been playing in every position, going around the field,” Mensah said. “It was nothing really new to me. I knew my job and what I had to do.”
After going to overtime and the game remaining scoreless, the squads headed to a penalty shootout.
Mensah called it the most nerve-wracking moment of his life. But he knew beforehand if the game ended in penalties, Xavier would win. The Musketeers had prepared for this, Kropp and fellow defender Luke Kegerreis said. Throughout the season — and especially the week before the game — they practiced them constantly.
The preparation paid dividends. Leading 5-4 in the shootout, goalie Johnny Mennell clinched the win with a game-sealing save.
Kegerreis called it “right out of a movie.” With Johnny’s arms spread wide as he taunted Georgetown’s fans — a move Mensah compared to Real Madrid forward Jude Bellingham’s signature celebration — Mensah was one of the first to reach him. He said he “blacked out” after that, as everyone swarmed around him.
On the bus back, Mensah called his mother. He couldn’t muster up many words on that call. A few hours later, he called back with tears streaming down his face, and began with four words.
“Mom, I did it,” he said.
“I knew you guys could,” Osei Agyemang responded.
Ernest Mensah poses with Xavier teammates Makel Rasheed, Michael Rogalski and Matthew Senanou after the Musketeers’ 2023 Big East Championship. Mensah helped steer Xavier to its first conference title since 2011. Courtesy of Makel Rasheed
That moment, with a championship under his belt and some fresh ink on his thigh, was the pinnacle of Mensah’s time at Xavier.
“That’s the most important period of his career,” Wells said. “That’s where he was recruited. That’s where he became a college player. That’s where he grew and matured into a man.”
But Xavier won just four games during Mensah’s junior season, and he realized he had nothing else to accomplish there. The Musketeers had never been offensively sound — even when they won the Big East — and they weren’t improving.
Mensah had built his career with the program, but he needed to finish it somewhere else. He jumped into the transfer portal in December and waited for the right person to call. That turned out to be SU head coach Ian McIntyre.
Syracuse was looking for a new wing-back. As soon as Mensah entered the portal, he flew to the top of McIntyre’s board. SU’s coach called him instantly. After a few conversations, Mensah said he didn’t want to wait. He felt valued by SU, so he committed just two days after entering the portal.
“When the head coach is calling you right away, it means business,” Mensah said. “So I didn’t really need to wrestle too much in the portal. I wanted a coach to call me and be set on me.”
Mensah entered Syracuse as one of just four players to win a conference title in their college careers. He knows how to get there, he knows what it feels like, and now, he wants to use that experience to power the Orange to another.
All he has to do is look to his leg for inspiration.
