The smile slowly spread across Nicky Galasso’s face as the question was being asked.

He couldn’t say no. Syracuse’s postseason-clinching win over North Carolina — whose basketball program he grew up cheering for and for whose lacrosse team he was suiting up for just two years ago – had to have something extra to it.

“Yeah, a little bit,” Galasso confessed. “But it’s just another game, so I’m glad we came out with the win and we have our next opponent to focus on.”

The redshirt junior’s productive stretch of play continued Saturday night in the Carrier Dome, where Galasso netted a pair of second-half goals to help the No. 7 Orange (8-3, 2-3 Atlantic Coast) edge No. 4 UNC (9-3, 2-3) by a score of 11-10 in double overtime. With SU’s back against the wall and a must-win conundrum at hand to qualify for the ACC tournament, Galasso made the most of his crunch-time minutes.

After his two-point outing against the Tar Heels, the midfielder has racked up all seven of his goals on the season within the Orange’s last seven games – six of which have been victories.

“I’m just happy for him that he found the right spot for himself,” UNC head coach Joe Breschi said, “and obviously, he’s a very good player. He’s got a great supporting cast around him here as well, so I’m happy he’s found a home and he’s being successful.”

Coming right off the SU sideline in the third quarter, Galasso hauled in a pass from Jordan Evans, faked a pass back to Evans and from 10 yards out, whipped a low-release shot past UNC goalie Kieran Burke to cut the deficit to 7-6.

For Syracuse’s first of three game-tying goals in the fourth quarter, Galasso initiated the ball movement by dodging along the goal line, drawing a slide and dishing to Kevin Rice behind the cage, who then found Dylan Donahue for a score.

“It’s not about trying to make a circus play,” Galasso said. “It’s more of dodging hard and moving the ball, and then your teammates are going to find each other.”

Three minutes later, Galasso took a pass from Rice and rifled a shot from the right wing into the back of the net for the Orange’s first lead of the night.

And when Syracuse dog-piled after finalizing an ACC tournament berth, Galasso made sure he took it all in, being one of the last SU players to leave the field as the coaches patted his helmet in encouragement.

Published on April 12, 2014 at 11:21 pm

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