John Galloway was searching for answers.

Sunk in a two-game funk, the befuddled Syracuse freshman trudged toward the Carrier Dome a couple hours before the Orange’s 10-5 win over Albany Friday, when he spotted a nearby field. And it hit him. It was time to revive a high-school tradition.

Galloway dug up a handful of the dirt and stuffed it into a plastic bag. In the locker room he added some water and splattered the dirt-turned-mud all over his pale complexion.

That’s more like it. Galloway got into a zone early against the Great Danes and never looked back, bailing out an SU offense that went stale in the second half. One week after making zero saves and allowing four goals in the fourth quarter of Syracuse’s win at Rutgers, Galloway responded with arguably his best game of the season. The freshman allowed five goals – three below his season average – while making 14 saves.

‘We started doing it after games in high school,’ Galloway quipped with the now-dried, crusty mud wearing off. ‘…I think I’m going to keep doing it now.’

Good call. After sprinting to a 7-2 lead, the Syracuse offense shut down. During the game’s final 39 minutes, the Orange (11-2) only scored three goals. Galloway, who allowed 11 second-half goals against Cornell and Rutgers, needed to deliver. Even with its top scorer, Corey Small (28 goals), sidelined with an injury, Albany bombarded Galloway during the fourth quarter.

This time, the freshman was ready, stifling Albany to its lowest goal count since it lost to Johns Hopkins in the season opener.

Galloway made six of his 14 saves in the final stanza, highlighted by a lights-out sequence during an Albany frenzy. On a delayed penalty, Albany’s Mark Cometti fired a point-blank shot five yards in front of Galloway, who instantly lifted his left shoulder for the save. An amped up Galloway bounced up and down five times in his crease, confidence high.

Seconds later, on the ensuing man-down, Galloway deflected a Kyle Brunk bullet out-of-bounds, garnering a subtle nod from senior defenseman Evan Brady. Twenty seconds later, Galloway plucked a Nate Sullivan-missile from the wing, ending Albany’s man advantage.

Any hope of an Albany comeback was denied, even as SU’s offense mustered only five shots and one goal in the fourth quarter.

‘If (Galloway) lets in a couple more goals, it’s a two- or three-goal game,’ said SU head coach John Desko. ‘He got in front of some shots, and otherwise the game would have been a lot tighter.’

During the postgame press conference, a modest Galloway – sporting a mud stain on his Nike undershirt – deferred all praise to his defense for sliding and communicating. Then Brady clutched the goalie’s shoulder and cracked a smile out of him.

‘Look at this kid, look at this kid. He’s got dirt on his face,’ Brady said. ‘He wants to win so badly. You can see it every day in practice. He just wants it so much.’

Especially during the week leading up to the Albany game. After playing three games in one week, Galloway took advantage of a six-day layoff. Working individually with Syracuse assistant coach Kevin Donahue, Galloway focused on stopping specific types of shots he was ‘uncomfortable’ with.

‘I think I wasn’t working as hard as I should have been,’ Galloway said. ‘Me and (Donahue) went after it this week. He’s always there, always helping me out. To be able to have him help me out this week really benefited me for tonight.’

Galloway has stayed in the shadows through Syracuse’s resurrection this season. While Syracuse’s offense has torched opponents for 14 goals per game (third in the country), Galloway has been on-and-off. His goals against average of 7.81 is hardly glamorous – 17th in Division I.

But on Friday, he was the finisher Syracuse could need in May at the NCAA tournament. For now, though, it was all about getting back on track and bringing back the mud.

‘It was frustrating all week after a game like (Rutgers),’ Galloway said. ‘I kind of let my guys down. … The offense deserves to mess up a couple times for all they’ve done this season, so I was happy to make a couple saves for them at the end of the game.

‘I can’t take (the mud) off anymore.’

thdunne@syr.edu

Published on April 20, 2008 at 12:00 pm