"Best goalie in the nation" label doesn't saddle Syracuse's Galloway
When pundits and analysts have been asked to list the top players in Division I, the first goalkeeper usually mentioned is Syracuse senior John Galloway.
Then again, Galloway is the only player in NCAA history to win national championships as a starter in his freshmen and sophomores years, and he became the school’s first representative to earn the Ensign C. Markland Kelly Jr. Award as the country’s best goalie.
But if you ask Galloway about earning that designation, he blocks the compliment as well as he stops shots from the alleys.
“You take pride in being able to help your team out,” he said. “Regardless of whether you’re trying to be the best clearing goalie or trying to improve your save percentage, I’ll do whatever it takes to help my team out. If it’s me saving 20 percent of my shots and we’re still winning games and they’re calling me the worst goalie in the country, if we win the national championship, that makes up for everything. My first two years here, I didn’t have the greatest numbers, but we won. And I would trade any label for a national championship.”
Statistically, Galloway enjoyed his best season last spring, registering career bests in goals-against average (7.16) and save percentage (.595) en route to propelling the Orange to a 13-2 record.
But Syracuse’s path to a potential third consecutive national title was cut short by a double-overtime loss to Army in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Although the Orange made amends by beating the Black Knights on Sunday and getting out to a 2-0 start, that setback has weighed heavily on Galloway.
“Last year was, statistically speaking, my best year, but I don’t think it was anywhere close where we wanted to be,” he said. “We saw a lot of mistakes on film, and we’re trying to make good adjustments as the years go by. Right now, we’re not very happy with the way things have been going. I could have made a lot more saves in the first two games, and this is just another chance against a great opponent in Virginia to get better.”
