FOXBOROUGH, Mass — John Galloway was a split second late.

The Syracuse goaltender tried to elevate his stick to meet the rising shot from Maryland attack Grant Catalino, but he just missed it.

He spun around to see where the ball was with the hope it continued moving up and over the crossbar. But with Maryland’s bench flooding out onto the field and the Terrapins’ beginning their celebratory dog pile on Catalino, Galloway already knew where the shot landed.

‘I could judge from the reaction that the ball went in the net,’ Galloway said. ‘You have to stand tall and make that save. He put it in the corner.’

Catalino’s overtime goal delivered a 6-5 Maryland win over Syracuse (15-2) on May 22 at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., ending the Orange’s season in the NCAA tournament quarterfinals in front of a crowd of 14,122. The teams battled back and forth in a defensive struggle, and the Orange finally pulled even at 5-5 late in the fourth quarter. But it was SU’s missed opportunities after Jovan Miller tied the game that ultimately sent the Orange home with an overtime loss for the second straight year.

Maryland advanced to play Duke in the final four in Baltimore and went on to defeat the Blue Devils 6-3 to make the championship game. The Terrapins fell to Virginia in the national championship, 9-7.

‘It’s just disappointing,’ said Miller, who scored two goals in the game. ‘I’ve played this situation over in my head a million times, and I’ve never once pictured it like this.’

Catalino’s goal came on a set play the Terrapins had installed earlier in the week. It had already worked once in the second quarter, with Scott LaRue as beneficiary.

But as the game went on, he was cut off the next few times Maryland ran the play. This time, LaRue was shut down by SU midfielder Kevin Drew.

With LaRue’s lane blocked, he went to the second option — dishing to attack Ryan Young behind the net. As Young caught the pass, Catalino wiggled free from the Syracuse defense with the help of some off-ball screens on the right side of the goal.

Young immediately sent the ball to the senior after making the catch behind, and Catalino caught and fired in one motion. He ripped the underhand shot into the top left corner of the goal, and Maryland’s celebration began.

‘Not much thought went into that shot,’ Catalino said. ‘It was a lot of practice this week. I shot that shot probably over 100 times and just shot the shot I always take.’

That game-winning goal may be the one moment most remembered from this game, and it was a save Galloway couldn’t make. But his teammates floundered on a few other late-game opportunities as well.

After Miller tied the game 5-5, Chris Daddio won the ensuing faceoff for Syracuse — a rarity for the Orange in the game — to give SU a chance to win in regulation.

Syracuse head coach John Desko said Maryland did a good job switching on picks to shut down the Orange’s first option on the desperation play. And with time winding down in the fourth, SU went to its second option — Miller charging from the top, down the right hash.

But Maryland goalie Niko Amato was there for the stick save to send the game to overtime.

‘I think it just helps, first and foremost, to have repetition,’ Amato said. ‘And secondly, I think our defensemen did a great job getting after him and forcing him down the alley so he didn’t have as much of an angle as he did the previous shot.’

Syracuse blew another golden opportunity in overtime, too. Maryland won the opening faceoff and held the ball for nearly two minutes with just one shot. But with midfielder Jake Bernhardt carrying on top, SU defenseman Tom Guadagnolo hacked the ball out of his stick.

Drew scooped it up and took off toward the Maryland cage. He charged into the middle of the offensive zone, and Desko elected not to call a timeout to set up a play. Drew ultimately wound up from about 10 yards out and fired a shot that sailed wide. Amato hustled behind the net to get possession for the Terrapins, which resulted in Catalino’s score.

‘We had, in previous dead-ball situations, covered all that,’ Desko said. ‘We said, ‘This is Syracuse University, and if we have a nice four-on-three break, we’re going to take it.’

Although there were other factors that contributed to the Orange’s loss, SU overcame them all to knot the game up late.

Those last two chances from Miller and Drew — combined with the missed save by Galloway — would have advanced Syracuse to the next round of the tournament. But instead, it was Catalino’s rising game-winning tally that sent Maryland to the final four and the Orange back home.

‘We’re kind of grieving together right now,’ Desko said. ‘As we talked about it in the locker room, it’s a loss for us, and we’re going to have to deal with it. Our expectations were a little more, so we’re dealing with that.’

zjbrown@syr.edu

Published on May 21, 2011 at 12:00 pm