Game Recap: Syracuse over Army 11-9

Before Army could even get a shot on goal, the Syracuse Orange had put up seven goals against the Black Knights and goalie Tom Palesky.  What looked like a blowout, soon turned into a memorable second game of the season for the Orange.  

After one quarter, the Orange were up 7-1 and led 9-3 at halftime.  The Orange seemed like they would dominate this game and seemed to have gotten their revenge against the Black Knights.  But as we have seen time and time again, the Black Knights never gave up and slowly chipped away at Orange lead.  Garrett Thul's late goal made it 10-9 Orange with just over two minutes to go. 

Senior goalie John Galloway said "being in a close game will probably help us in the long run, but you never want to be in a situation like this." 

The situation was this: Syracuse outshot Army 25-8 in the first half. It was outshot 20-9 in the second. It led the groundball battle 17-9 in the first half. It lost it 13-11 in the second. Its offense poured eight goals past Palesky in the game’s first 18:42. It was shut out for 24:09 in the second half. (Dave Rhame, Post Standard)

Galloway was very good in goal and was a major reason why Army could never tie the game up.  As a senior leader, this is what you expect and want to see out of Galloway.  He finished with nine saves on the day, seven of which came in the second half.

What started out as a classic run and gun Orange type of game, soon turned into the style of play the Black Knights are accustom to; slow pace, methodical and a little boring.  But that works for the Black Knights and it took the Orange offense out of the game for majority of the second half.  Palesky was again great for the Black Knights as he made nine saves and kept Army in the game--even if it looked like he wasn't awake in the first quarter. 

"I think the guys came out excited, it was up-tempo, we won faceoffs, got some unsettled situations and shot the ball very well (8-for-12 at one point). Then Army went back into a zone and slowed us down and we got impatient. Army kept playing, as they always do."  S.U. head coach John Desko

*John Lade looked like his usual self, holding All-American Jeremy Boltus to only one goal and two assists. 

*Jojo Marasco is looking very comfortable taking on the challenge of wearing #22 for the Orange.  He had three goals and two assists on the afternoon.

*Tim Desko is looking more and more like a formidable attackman for the Orange.  He recorded his first career hat trick.

*Jovan Miller had a strong all-around game.  He recorded two goals as well as played some strong defense.

*Joel White was all over the field as usual.  Him and Miller combine to give any of the Orange face-off men two of the best wing players in the country.  On that note, the Orange won the face-off battle 14-9.  Jeremy Thompson was 4-6 on the day while freshmen Ricky Buhr and Chris Daddio combined to go 8-15.

For the Black Knights, Garrett Thul woke up in this one and had a hat trick.  He also took 10 shots. 

**Now the true test comes this Friday as the Virginia Cavaliers come to the Carrier Dome as #1 will take on #2.  The entire lacrosse world is looking forward to this game.  Lets see how the Orange come out for this game. There is no doubt they will be pumped up. 

Also of note will be if the Bratton brothers play for coach Dom Starsia and the Cav's. 

More to come on all that later today and the rest of the week.