In 1st extended time since NCAA tournament year ago, Cavalieri steps up in win
NEW YORK — Syracuse men’s lacrosse head coach John Desko didn’t see the similarities in Al Cavalieri’s sole two replacement performances in the past two seasons. For one, he said John Galloway could’ve come out for the second half Saturday if he needed to. And for another, this wasn’t an NCAA quarterfinal game.
Still, watching Cavalieri dispose of shot after shot, his head coach couldn’t help but be impressed.
‘I thought Alex (Cavalieri) was terrific today,’ Desko said. ‘He made some great saves from the outside, from the inside. … He definitely is a gamer.’
With Galloway nursing his left thumb for the entirety of the second half, Cavalieri was thrust into extended playing time for more than 25 minutes in SU’s 15-7 victory over St. John’s on Saturday, almost equaling his entire playing time coming into the game.
Galloway appeared to get slashed on the left arm after making a save with a little less than five minutes to play in the first half. He came up grabbing at the arm on the Orange’s clearance attempt. With SU holding a comfortable eight-goal lead at halftime over the Red Storm, Desko said he felt no need to risk anything.
He also said it was not likely to affect Galloway’s status for next weekend’s first round of the NCAA tournament.
‘He just caught one in the thumb,’ Desko said. ‘With the score at 10-2 at halftime, we really didn’t see it was that important to get him in the second half and potentially take another one. So it was good to get him out, get healthy, stay healthy, rest and see who we’re going to play in the playoffs.’
Cavalieri was playing in his first extended action since last season’s NCAA quarterfinal victory over Maryland, in which he stepped in and replaced a flu-ridden Galloway. In that game, he made 14 saves in his first career start, earning Nike/Inside Lacrosse Player of the Week Honors in the process.
On Saturday, Cavalieri picked up right where he left off. St. John’s had 18 shots on goal in the second half, and Cavalieri took 14 them, stopping 11 shots and only allowing three goals in the span of nearly two quarters.
‘I was seeing the ball well,’ Cavalieri said. ‘It’s a sunny day out. There are no bleachers in the background. So I just saw the shots, and that’s all there was to it.’
The Red Storm came out firing out of the locker room, and Cavalieri had three saves in the half’s first three minutes.
One after another, St. John’s seemed to find the openings it missed in the first half. First, it was Tyler Novotny, who was stonewalled twice by Cavalieri in the third quarter. Then, Brandon Ayers. Each time a Red Storm found a path, Cavalieri was there for a stop.
‘We see that every single day in practice,’ SU longstick midfielder Joel White said of Cavalieri. ‘I’m not too surprised about it, but I’m glad he got a chance to get out there.’
Though Desko isn’t worried about Galloway’s status for next weekend in the first round of the NCAA tournament, he said it’s still good to have the comfort in the back of his mind that he has a backup goalie who he considers good enough to start.
‘We’re happy that he got some experience before the playoffs,’ Desko said. ‘Because you never know. Look what happened a year ago when we had to go with him against Maryland. Just having him there in his position is very comforting to our staff.’
Up Next
The Orange has been discussed as anywhere from the No. 1 overall seed to the No. 4 overall seed. Currently, SU is ranked fourth in the Inside Lacrosse RPI rankings. Three ACC squads — Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina — currently occupy the top three slots in the rankings.
As likely one of the top four seeds in the tournament, Syracuse would host a first-round game next weekend against a lower-seeded team.
But SU players and Desko alike aren’t caught up in worrying about where they’ll end up. To Joel White, it’s a matter of beating the elite teams on the path to a national championship seeded at any slot.
‘My philosophy is that you have to beat everyone to win the national championship,’ White said. ‘You’ve got to beat the best to be the best. So I’m not too worried about what rank we are, and we can’t do anything about it now.’
Published on May 7, 2010 at 12:00 pm
