EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — John Galloway didn’t hide his extra motivation. This time, in this game, he had something more to prove.

Flash back a year ago. The then-sophomore goalie manned the net for the Syracuse men’s lacrosse team on the biggest of stages. Giants Stadium. The Meadowlands. A record crowd for a lacrosse event.

Then, it all came crashing down. Seven saves to 12 goals allowed. Three goals allowed in the fourth quarter to put the game completely in Princeton’s control. And a four-goal loss, one of SU’s two blemishes in 2009.

‘It’s a huge motivational factor,’ Galloway said of his performance last year. ‘I still have the article from last year after the game.’

Galloway came into Saturday night with a chip on his shoulder. He badly wanted a performance to silence the doubters.

And on this night, he answered the call. In almost 50 minutes of action, Galloway stonewalled the Princeton offense, allowing just one goal and stopping 11 shots along the way, leading the No. 3 Orange to a 13-4 victory over No. 4 Princeton. It was his best performance on the stat sheet since he only allowed one goal over three quarters against Rutgers on April 11, 2009.

Galloway gave up his lone goal to the Tigers’ Mike Chanenchuk on a blistering shot into the bottom left corner of the goal. That put the score at 3-2 Syracuse, with 9:26 remaining in the first half.

From there, the Orange went on a 9-0 run that spanned parts of three quarters and more than 31 minutes. Freshman JoJo Marasco, who scored two of his three goals on the day in that run, credited Galloway ‘100 percent’ for SU’s offensive success.

‘We don’t get those goals unless John stops (Princeton),’ Marasco said. ‘It’s a great feeling knowing he’s making all those saves and the defense is playing so well because the ball is really on our end of the field, and then we get to do what we do best.’

And that was all the Tigers would get against Galloway until Al Cavalieri replaced him with 9:13 to play in the game. Granted, the SU offense possessed the ball for excessive chunks of time. Galloway credited his offense with as much.

But when those shots were fired at his end, he stopped them. There was the point-blank save on Princeton attack Chris McBride. There was the near full-out split on a Chanenchuk shot. And there was the save when he went across his body to stop Jack McBride, who burned Galloway for a hat trick last year.

‘The ball was big and white,’ Galloway said. ‘It looked like a beach ball today. It was nice.’

Princeton noticed the difference as well. Last year, sophomore defender Chad Wiedmaier and senior midfield Scott Mackenzie saw a flustered goaltender struggling to find his identity. Mackenzie took advantage, putting up a goal and two assists in Princeton’s win.

‘I think John played great,’ Mackenzie said after the game Saturday. ‘He’s a good goalie. When you have no angle, he’s going to make those saves. I think when you play against a goalie like that you have to make that extra pass, make that one more and get an open shot instead of those low angle shots.’

Mackenzie looked like he had more to say. But that was when Wiedmaier interjected. On the defensive end, he had practiced all week for the Orange’s offensive attack, knowing full well how Galloway jump-starts it in transition.

But on Saturday, Wiedmaier and his teammates couldn’t stop the SU offense. And he knew part of it was because of the quick finds and long passes from Galloway to start the attack.

‘He obviously played great in the net, too,’ Wiedmaier said. ‘But we knew coming into the game that he’s a great outlet passer. He’s the one who sparks their offense every time. He caught us a couple of times. He’s just a good player. He had a really good day.’

On this night, there was a similar setting and arguably the biggest game of the year thus far. The record crowd was back, too, and many of those eyes were on Galloway.

Last year, he deflected the spotlight. This year, smiling, he left a different stadium a different goalie. This year, he left wanting to come back.

Said Galloway: ‘Is the final four here this year? I wish.’

 

bplogiur@syr.edu

 

 

 

Published on April 10, 2010 at 12:00 pm