Syracuse’s brick wall slowly crumbled. The team’s last line of defense — one that had been virtually impenetrable all season — couldn’t keep its stoic façade intact any longer.

Hours after the Syracuse men’s lacrosse team was stunned by Army in the first round of the 2010 NCAA tournament — hours after he allowed the game-winning goal on a save he’s made hundreds of times — John Galloway finally broke down.

‘I remember seeing him a few hours after the game,’ said SU senior midfielder Jovan Miller, who is entering his fourth season playing alongside Galloway. ‘And he was all torn up inside. You could definitely tell. His facial expressions did not look like he was OK.’

Even in the presence of his mother, Galloway’s face told the story. Hallowed and noticeably shaken, the junior goaltender couldn’t come to grips with what had just happened.

The second-seeded Orange, whose record was a near-perfect 13-1 heading into the game, was knocked out of the postseason despite being heavy favorites at home against the Black Knights. So when Devin Lynch’s shot beat Galloway in the second overtime, it was one of the biggest upsets in recent Division I lacrosse history.

‘That shot might go in half the time,’ Galloway said. ‘But it’s also a point in the game where you hope you can make a big save and keep your team in it.’

And that is exactly what Galloway couldn’t do. Despite being arguably the country’s most dominant goaltender all season long — eventually being rewarded with the Ensign C. Markland Kelly Jr. Award given to the nation’s best — he couldn’t make the big save when it mattered most.

Cue the frustration.

‘Last year at the end of the year, he was really stopping everything,’ said Al Cavalieri, a former SU goaltender who backed up Galloway for three seasons. ‘He didn’t have to improve because everything was getting stopped.’

Galloway returns with a chance to ‘fix’ what happened last year — using that goal by Lynch as motivation.

This year, Galloway tries to put everything together. As a freshman and sophomore, he won two national championships but doesn’t hesitate to admit he felt like an inexperienced liability at times. And last year — which was statistically the best of his career — one mistake cut short what could have been a remarkable season.

Now a three-year veteran, Galloway is left with one last chance for a complete season that maintains outstanding goaltending and ends with a national title.

Hundreds of miles away from Galloway in South Bend, Ind., Notre Dame goaltender Scott Rodgers could sympathize. Later in that same NCAA tournament, Rodgers and the Fighting Irish lost in the national title game when Duke’s C.J. Costabile took the overtime faceoff straight down the field for the winning goal.

‘With the way the season ended for them,’ Rodgers said, ‘I’m sure he wanted to come out this year and — it’s easy for some guys to have two rings and be happy with that, but I think he’s got the motivation to be a great goalie and, on top of that, be a great leader for that team.’

 

‘To the wolves’

Four scrimmages and 21 games after his collegiate debut, Galloway finally felt it. After 390 calendar days, the initial hint of confidence had been hatched.

Following a 13-12 loss to Virginia on Feb. 27, 2009 — a game in which he had 13 saves and held the Cavaliers scoreless for the final 7:32 — Galloway was excited.

‘It was the first time I felt confident against a good Division I team,’ he said after the game. ‘And I’m excited to have that feeling.’

Though he had already won a national championship as a freshman and would win his second at the end of that 2009 season, Galloway was arguably the weak spot on a dominating Syracuse team. He became the first true freshman goaltender to start for the Orange since 1982, and since then the pressure of leading the winningest college lacrosse program in Division I history has rested squarely on his shoulders.

And for Galloway, development has come slowly. True enough, he won national titles in his first two seasons, but those titles were more a product of the offensive juggernaut that was the SU attack and less the result of stellar goaltending.

‘He didn’t have to be a brick wall for that team to necessarily win,’ Inside Lacrosse staff writer Zach Babo said. ‘The offense was going to be able to generate enough goals to always keep his team in it and most times to be able to win.’

That offense scored 15 or more goals 11 times during those two seasons. It scored enough goals to win games against Johns Hopkins when Galloway let in 13 and against Virginia when he let in 11.

Even his head coach John Desko said the team threw the freshman ‘to the wolves’ with the hope that he would continue to improve as the years progressed.

‘I think we did a great job — my defense — giving me time to develop into the goalie that I am,’ Galloway said.

While he was along for the ride — a ride that would end with two rings — he made incredible strides as a goaltender. When the team needed him to buckle down, he was able to.

In the 2008 national semifinals against Virginia, Galloway only let in two fourth-quarter goals as his team came back to win in overtime. As a sophomore, he had a game with 19 saves against Georgetown and held Hobart to four goals.

But most importantly, he won two titles.

‘I watched John as a freshman come in and take on a big role as a Syracuse leader in the net,’ said Lynch, who scored Army’s winning goal against Syracuse. ‘It was really amazing to see him take them to those two championships.’

Babo related Galloway’s play to that of an NFL quarterback. In his first two seasons, Galloway wasn’t the one putting up flashy numbers or double-digit saves on a regular basis. But he was getting wins.

‘You’d love to have the guy that’s throwing for 5,000 yards, and you’d love to have the goalie that’s posting absurd save percentages,’ Babo said. ‘But at the end of the day, you want the quarterback or you want the goalie that is winning you ball games, that’s getting you to the playoffs, that’s advancing your team.’

 

Nitpicking

Inside the apartment on 33rd and First avenues, Galloway fired off text messages to teammate Joel White. Though it was the middle of the summer, his mind remained on lacrosse.

After a long day of work at his internship with the YES Network in New York City, he would pop in a tape and study film.

‘He’d text me, and I’d always know when he was watching film,’ White said. ‘He’d never admit it to me that he was watching film because he didn’t want to be embarrassed that he’s in NYC and still thinking lax.

‘But he’d text me stuff you would never be thinking about unless you were watching the tape right then.’

And he was.

With his internship keeping him off the lacrosse field for most of the summer, Galloway did all he could to stay up on the game. He spent the summer with Cavalieri and picked apart his game.

He watched tape of last season — with the exception of the Army game, which he refuses to watch — as well as tape of classic Syracuse lacrosse games. SU assistant coach Kevin Donahue said he came back with a list of areas he wanted to improve in his game.

‘He’s actually gotten to the point now where he actually tells me a little bit what he wants to do as a schedule,’ Donahue said. ‘Because he knows exactly what he wants to become and what it should look like.’

What it should look like is an even better statistical season than last year and a national championship. If all goes according to plan, that is.

Miller is the first one to say a third national championship for this senior class would be the most meaningful. For the first two, Galloway included, they were followers. A title in 2011, though, would be theirs.

And by picking apart every inch of his game — despite putting up some of the best numbers in the country last season — Galloway is on his way to getting that title.

‘It’s not focusing on the big picture sometimes,’ Miller said. ‘It’s nitpicking. The people who can nitpick their game, I think it’s going to make them that much greater.’

With his senior season set to get underway Sunday against Denver, Galloway continues to nitpick. He continues to go to practice early and take hundreds of extra shots from Miller and Josh Amidon.

It’s this work ethic, Desko says, that makes him stand out. His coach says he’s the first to practice and the last to leave and that he probably takes ‘too many shots.’

But in the end, it could be worth it. If Galloway can avoid another momentary lapse like he had against Army, the talent is there to put it all together. He’s worked to become the goaltender SU can rely on.

Now they need to rely on him to bring home a title.

‘He’s worked as hard this year, if not harder than he ever has in the past,’ Desko said. ‘Anybody that could have three national championships and be a four-year starter would be a tremendous feat.’

mjcohe02@syr.edu

Published on February 16, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Michael: mjcohe02@syr.edu | @Michael_Cohen13