Between The Lines

Trivia Question (Records Broken Edition): John Galloway is now the NCAA's all time winningest goalie. Whose record did he break?

Your Questions: Want them answered? Your tweets always welcome @BrianHigginsSU.

This week: It's the worst undefeated number one team of all time. At least that seems to be the prevailing opinion in my recent wanderings through the lacrosse community. To combine and paraphrase a multitude of others' thoughts, “Why are the games so close? Clearly they're about to lose. Maybe they need a loss to refocus. Blah blah blah…”

Or we could consider Syracuse's schedule to this point. Here's, in order, who the Orange have beaten in their 8-0 start: Bill Tierney's team, the team that eliminated the Orange last season, a team they hadn't beaten in the regular season in seven years, the oldest Big East rival for all Syracuse squads, a feisty upstate rival, the most hated rival in the history of the lacrosse program, a team playing the biggest game in program history, and oh yeah the defending national champs.

This team both relishes a challenge and thrives when presented with one. The nation's hardest schedule to this point by any metric has been just that. “In years past some of the cupcakes took away from the fun of it,” John Galloway said. “I think we've had fun for the past eight weeks. I think that's the enjoyment of playing college lacrosse, you never get a good break. Especially with our schedule you really don't get any time off, which is fun. It keeps us on our toes, it keeps us working hard in practice during the week, and it makes every weekend eventful.”

The brutal schedule has resulted in six games being decided by two goals or less, including a pair in overtime, all wins. “There's never a dull moment, let's put it that way,” Joel White said. “This is a very eventful season we've had, and we're just lucky enough to keep coming out with a win. We've showed a lot of pride and a lot of character with how we've been winning.”

Last year's Tewaaraton finalist is being a tad modest. This has nothing to do with luck. This is the best team in the country. It might just be time to sit back and enjoy what they're capable of.

Higgo's Hero: Close exciting games. This year's lacrosse team is the person that cranks up the Madden difficultly level because they grew bored of destroying the computer. Would the 2009 title be remembered as fondly if the Orange beat Cornell by 10? I think not. Pulling games out of the fire at the last possible moment may get the heart racing, but I'll take grippingly compelling any day. Keep the exciting wins coming.

Tales from the Road: Whenever we arrive at an NFL stadium bags are given a cursory search to make sure no one has designs on blowing up a billion dollar football palace. Thankfully a container of mysterious cords, known as radio equipment, is SOP there since I'm sure it looks suspicious.

Last Saturday at the New Meadowlands, they kicked up security a notch and broke out the bomb sniffing dogs. Our bags all passed the smell test. Though I may never feel safe again unless a highly trained canine hurdles my stuff before I enter a stadium.

The lacrosse squad made its second trip to the New Meadowlands Stadium this past weekend and the building was even more spectacular than last time. A year ago the Orange took part in the first ever event in the stadium, and this time all the little things that weren't quite ready were in place thanks to a full NFL season of use. Without question the New Meadowlands needs to host the Final Four in the not too distant future.

Trivia Answer: Scott Bacigalupo. The 1994 Princeton grad rang up 51 wins in the cage during his career before Galloway passed him Saturday. Bacigalupo led the Tigers to their first two national titles under Bill Tierney in 1992 and 1994. Galloway's next task, chase down the man who used to occupy his net. The last goalie to start for three national championship teams? Syracuse's own Matt Palumb. Matty generally credits the “the wonder twins” Gary and Paul Gait. Though his 1989 title clinching save against Hopkins at the buzzer is nothing to sneeze at.

Upcoming Schedule: Speaking of Princeton and goalies, the Orange head back to New Jersey Saturday. The 2-5 Tigers have been decimated by injuries, but are still backstopped by last season's second-team All American goalie -- Tyler Fiorito. John Galloway of course is the reigning first-teamer. TK99 and Orange All Access have you covered from Princeton Stadium. We're on the air at 3:30 for a 4:00 faceoff. Then Tuesday night Cornell comes to the Carrier Dome. The Orange have broken Big Red hearts two years running.

Syracuse University Athletics

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