The night before his team’s 2008 Face-Off Classic match against Syracuse, Virginia men’s lacrosse head coach Dom Starsia gathered his players in their Baltimore hotel for an important discussion. A decision needed to be made about the 2009 rematch against the Orange: Should the Cavaliers return to the Face-Off Classic or travel to the Carrier Dome?

Starsia polled his team. The Cavaliers wanted to play in the Carrier Dome, and so did Starsia. The 2009 squad’s seniors have never played in Syracuse, so they traded the lavish festivities surrounding the Face-Off Classic weekend for the history of the Dome, a building that has hosted 10 national champion SU squads.

The decision Virginia made a year ago unfolds tonight. No. 2 Syracuse hosts the No. 1 Cavaliers at 7 p.m. in the Carrier Dome (TW 26), in arguably the best matchup of the regular season, as the top two teams in the nation collide early in the season.

‘We have the best venue in college lacrosse,’ Syracuse attack Kenny Nims said. ‘I’m not surprised that they wanted to come here. I think it’s fun they wanted to play us at home.’

Syracuse-Virginia games have a history of being high-scoring, fast-paced contests with unclear outcomes until the final seconds of play. The series record proves it. Dating back to 1938, the series is tied at 12. Since the teams began to play annually in 1994, the Orange and the Cavaliers have scored 292 goals in the past 21 games. The average score in SU-Virginia games since ’94 is 13.9-13.9.

‘It’s always a high-scoring game when these two teams play,’ Syracuse goalie John Galloway said. ‘You never know what’s going to happen when they come to the Dome. We are excited to have the chance to play against a team that lets us play our style and plays a similar style.’

Syracuse head coach John Desko sees the top two teams in the country as equally matched. Both have fast, athletic midfielders. SU and UVA each lost a star attack from last season. Virginia’s defense has more experience, and though each team has a sophomore goalie, Syracuse’s Galloway saw more game experience. Galloway protected the net in the Orange’s 12-11 win over the Cavaliers in the 2008 NCAA semifinals and made seven saves in the championship game, aiding Syracuse to its 10th title.

Starsia said the game will come down to which sophomore goalie makes fewer mistakes.

‘Galloway is really the one player, that if he steps up and plays great that will do it,’ Starsia said. ‘The goalies will have the single greatest ability to influence the outcome in determining this game.’

Virginia’s goalie Adam Ghitelman also realizes he and Galloway each have the ability to determine Friday night’s game. Galloway said Ghitelman contacted him Tuesday about their matchup. The duo both tried out for the national U-19 team, so despite the natural rivalry, Galloway said the two are friends.

Galloway has made nine saves thus far this season, boasting 4.33 goals against average in two games. Ghitelman has made 32 saves in four games, averaging 5.44 goals against. Each team’s attack has averaged far more than the goalies have let up so far. Syracuse is averaging 19.50 goals per game. Virginia is averaging 13.25 goals over its first four games.

Both Syracuse’s and Virginia’s head coaches voiced nervousness and excitement around practice all week leading up to the highly-anticipated game Friday.

‘How can you not be excited?’ Desko said. ‘These are two teams that will rocket down the field and no one is afraid to go after each other. … A Virginia-Syracuse team takes on a life of its own. Both teams have a green light to go and play lacrosse.’

mkgalant@syr.edu

Published on February 26, 2009 at 12:00 pm