MLAX : SU seniors depart as most decorated class in school history despite bitter ending
Though their final memory in an SU uniform will be suffering a heartbreaking 6-5 overtime loss to Maryland in the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament, the Syracuse seniors will still leave the school as the winningest class in the SU’s storied lacrosse history.
It’s a group that also won two national championships in their first two years at Syracuse.
But for senior midfielder Jovan Miller, the loss to the Terrapins will overshadow that success.
‘We didn’t win (a national championship),’ Miller said. ‘Mike Leveille won us the first one. Kenny Nims won us the second one with a heroic goal. I’m extremely excited for all of us. We all had great careers, but at the end of the day we didn’t win one for ourselves.
‘We didn’t lead Syracuse to anything.’
Miller and the rest of the seniors said throughout the year they would reflect upon their time at SU and all their accomplishments once the season ended. The midfielder said he will remember this loss to Maryland before any of those records or big victories.
‘I won’t remember all the wins,’ he said. ‘I’ll only remember the last time I had a Syracuse jersey on, we lost.’
The Orange seniors powered the team throughout this year. Its starting lineup boasted seven fourth-year players. John Galloway started in goal every year of his career. John Lade and Tom Guadagnolo led the defensive backline in front of him. Miller, Jeremy Thompson and Josh Amidon composed the first midfield line. Stephen Keogh led the team with 41 points on the year.
And although the loss may be what sits at the forefront of Miller’s mind, Galloway said there will be much more than the loss to look back on in the future.
‘I think we envisioned something different to go out with our four years,’ he said. ‘To look back on the moments we have cherished, the big, multiple games that we have won, the friendships that we made with everybody on the team, not just the senior class.
‘It’s been a pretty unbelievable ride, and to be part of the Syracuse program, that’s probably something that we’ll never forget.’
Lucky LaRue
Ryan Young stood near the corner of the field with his arms raised toward the sky. A seemingly impossible goal gave Maryland a two-goal lead. The Terrapins’ bench erupted in excitement as Young stood in disbelief of the previous play.
With one second remaining in the third period, Young sent a pass from near the corner of the field to Scott LaRue, who was right on the edge of the crease. But with the buzzer about to sound, there was no time for LaRue to make a catch-and-shoot goal. Instead, he threw his stick out and redirected the bullet pass from Young past Syracuse goaltender John Galloway.
The goal with 0:01 remaining in the third quarter gave Maryland a 5-3 lead going into the fourth quarter.
It happened so quickly, Galloway said, he wasn’t even sure what happened. All he knew was that LaRue got enough of the ball to send it to the back of the net.
‘Sometimes those things happen,’ Galloway said. ‘It’s unfortunate that in a one-goal game like this things like that can decide it. But that’s our fault for not getting in the hole and holding my pipe for making that save.’
In a game where scoring was at a premium, every goal was important. Any goal could prove to be the difference, and ultimately, the Terrapins prevailed by one.
Still, Galloway wasn’t ready to say the deflected goal led to the Maryland win. Instead, he said, the Orange missed too many opportunities later in the game to make up for it.
‘I don’t think that’s what decided the game,’ Galloway said. ‘I think we could’ve made some more plays at the end of the game, we just didn’t.
‘It’s just kind of how things swung today.’
