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Lacrosse

MLAX : SU, Maryland feature senior classes with same goal but different motivations in quarterfinal

John Galloway (left) and Tom Guadagnolo (right)

When John Desko walked on to the field at Gillette Stadium last month before Syracuse’s game against Providence, the memories flooded his mind. The thoughts of the two championships his team won on that same field took over.

He knew his senior class felt the same way.

‘When we played this year, the upperclassmen obviously walked on the field, even myself, walking on the field brought back some good memories,’ said Desko, the Syracuse head coach. ‘It felt good to be there.’

That senior class, the winningest in program history, will get the chance to notch one more victory on that field Sunday (noon, ESPNU) in an NCAA tournament quarterfinal game. But the top-seeded Orange (15-1) is going up against an unseeded Maryland (11-4) team that’s also led by a group of seniors determined to play beyond this weekend. And both classes are not only the most experienced, but also the most productive players for their respective teams.

Maryland’s seniors haven’t even advanced past the NCAA quarterfinals, let alone win an NCAA title. Syracuse’s seniors, though, have two national championships under their belts. They won a championship in their freshmen and sophomore seasons before suffering a painstaking loss to Army in the first round of the tournament last season. As far as Desko is concerned, this team can only go as far as the seniors will take it.



‘I think you draw on the experience and leadership of your seniors,’ Desko said. ‘They’ve been in championships and won championships, also have the memories of last year losing in the first round.’

Senior attack Grant Catalino is tied for the team lead in goals with 25. His senior counterpart at SU, Stephen Keogh, leads the Orange with 33 goals. All three of Maryland’s starting close defenders are seniors, while the Orange starts two seniors on its close defense line. Both long-stick midfielders in the game, Maryland’s Brian Farrell and SU’s Joel White, are considered two of the best at the position. At every spot on the field lies experience.

Maryland head coach John Tillman said that will show itself in a strong sense of urgency. The seniors on both sides want to make sure this isn’t the final time they put on a college lacrosse jersey. For Tillman, that means making sure his seniors don’t get carried away with the possibility of that happening. Tillman said it’s OK to show some emotion, but not too much.

‘We always talk about playing with emotion, but not being emotion,’ Tillman said in a phone interview. ‘I think there’s a big difference there. … Once you get to the emotional side of it, that’s when your brain goes out the window.’

One of the Terrapins’ seniors, attack Ryan Young, suffered the death of his mother on April 17. Maria Young passed away after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. Since the day she died, Maryland has only lost once, coming in its 10-8 defeat to Colgate a seemingly meaningless game after the Terrapins had already clinched an NCAA tournament berth by winning the ACC tournament.

Tillman said Maria Young was given three months to live but fought for three years. This is the final chance Ryan Young has to win a national championship. That’s one more reason for Maryland’s seniors to feel some extra motivation.

‘They’re excited for him and want to play hard for him,’ Tillman said. ‘What we’ve really focused on is if Maria Young can battle cancer for three years, and people only gave her three months, I don’t think practicing hard for two hours a day and playing hard for two hours is too much to ask.’

Young has 19 goals on the year, part of what SU goaltender John Galloway called a ‘senior-laden attack’ that he’ll have to be constantly aware of. And as a senior himself, Galloway knows just how hard his Maryland counterparts want to win this game especially considering a win over No. 1 Syracuse to get to the final four would change the legacy of this Maryland senior group entirely. After all, the Terrapins came into the season ranked No. 4 in the country in the preseason poll.

‘They have a very strong senior class,’ Galloway said. ‘It usually takes a good senior class to get far in the playoffs, and I think they have that.’

But Syracuse does too. And the SU bunch has experience playing in big games. It’s gone into Gillette Stadium and won. It knows how to handle the environment.

Sunday, the question becomes whether that experience and talent is enough to deter a Maryland team on a mission.

‘Both senior classes don’t want to lose,’ Keogh said. ‘It’s going to be a tough game.’

 

cjiseman@syr.edu

Staff writer Zach Brown contributed reporting to this article





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