BALTIMORE — Beads of sweat continued to gather on the forehead of Syracuse goalie John Galloway. His eye black diminished to a mere smudge under each eye. His patented blue sweatpants were rolled to just below his knees.

After a busy second half, Galloway looked the part of someone who was bombarded with 17-second half shots, six-second half goals and a Johns Hopkins offense that was desperately trying to leave its mark on the game after a dismal first half.

But after the 10-7 win Galloway could finally relax.

He sat with his arms resting on the table. The tape on his right hand was worn down. The No. 3 Syracuse Orange just defeated No. 7 Johns Hopkins at Homewood Field in Baltimore, but it was not without a barrage of second-half threats from the Blue Jays.

Threats that Galloway and the Syracuse defense put to rest. After putting just two shots on net in the first half, Johns Hopkins rifled 17 shots off and put 13 of those on net in the second half.

‘I thought the defense was very stingy tonight, especially in the first half,’ SU head coach John Desko said. ‘John (Galloway) played extremely well. He has made a real effort on being a better stopper this year and tonight you saw that. That makes our defense that much better.’

Syracuse went into the half with a 5-1 advantage, but Hopkins came out firing in the third and fourth. The Blue Jays outscored the Orange 6-5 in the final 30 minutes, but key stops at key moments secured the win for Syracuse.  

‘I think our defense played unbelievably tonight,’ said Galloway, who finished with nine saves. ‘With Hopkins you know you are going to end up seeing some shots, and that is what they did in the second half. But our defensive effort came through and made it easy for me.’

Maybe easy was a stretch, but the defensive efforts of Matt Tierney, John Lade, Brian Megill and longstick midfielder Joel White aided Galloway in net.

In just his second game back from a thigh injury, Lade shadowed the nation’s sixth-leading scorer in Hopkins’ Steven Boyle. Boyle finished with two goals and two assists but was held scoreless in the first half and came up empty when it mattered most.

‘Playing Boyle was a real challenge because he is a great player,’ Lade said. ‘They had a lot of possessions in the third quarter, and he kept taking me and wearing me down. He got a couple good shots off on John.’

After Boyle fed a cutting John Greeley in front of the net for the score, the Orange lead was cut to 9-7 with 2:47 to play. Joel White responded with a quick goal for Syracuse. With a three-goal advantage, Galloway huddled the Syracuse defenders together in front of his net.

Hopkins gained possession off the faceoff, and Galloway jumped up and down getting ready for what he knew was coming.

Johns Hopkins midfielder Michael Kimmel passed the ball off to Boyle. On the left side of the net, Boyle fired a shot at Galloway, but he made a stick save and cleared the ball to Tierney. Galloway pumped his arms up and down after the successful clear and pounded fists with Tierney.

Galloway got the best of Boyle. Hopkins never scored again.

‘Galloway played great tonight,’ Boyle said. ‘He made some great stops on the doorstop and saved some shots from up top, too. He is a great player and is tough. Defensively, you have to give them credit. They shut us down pretty much.’

White ended the 28-game point-scoring streak of Kimmel. Lade kept Boyle in check. And when the defense broke down, there was Galloway.

Standing in the net clapping his orange and white gloves, Galloway delivered when Hopkins threatened to climb all the way back.  

Though he looked like he was worn down, for Galloway, it was just signs of having a good time.

‘It is fun to play out here,’ Galloway said. ‘You dream of playing at Homewood Field at 8 p.m. under the lights with this many people. It was just me having a lot of fun tonight.’

restern@syr.edu