Classic Beatdown: Syracuse 13, Princeton 4

Syracuse did some serious course-correction on Saturday at the Big City Classic.  Coupled with No. 1 Virginia's slugfest win over North Carolina, the Orange looked like the most impressive team in East Rutherford with their 13-4 domination of No. 4 Princeton. They also got a modicum of revenge on the Tigers for last season while also reminding Princeton of the pecking order in 2010 NCAA lacrosse.

The Orange put their foot on Princeton's neck from the get-go and didn't let up.

SU (8-1, 2-0 Big East) defeated the No. 4 Tigers 13-4 Saturday at the Konica Minolta Big City Classic in front of 25,710 people to open up New Meadowlands Stadium in East Rutherford N.J. The crowd set the regular season attendance record for a lacrosse only event. The No. 3 Orange controlled play for most of the game, holding Princeton scoreless in the first and third quarters.

"We didn’t have the ball very often," [Tigers head coach Chris Bates] said. "So if you look at the possessions, I don’t think we had the ball very much at all. When we did, I thought their goalie played well. We never had multiple shot possessions, got ourselves feeling good."

Tim Desko was a gametime decision for the Orange.  That decision was to let him play, though the decision to take an insane circus-shot through his legs was all his...

It was a huge win on a huge stage, or at least as big a non-Final Four stage as NCAA Lacrosse can get.  It was also a huge performance by goalie John Galloway, who had some extra incentive to play well.

Galloway came into Saturday night’s contest against No.4 Princeton with a chip on his shoulder. He wanted a performance to silence the doubters.

And on this night, he answered the call. In almost 50 minutes of action, Galloway stonewalled the Tigers’ offense, allowing just one goal and stopping 11 shots along the way, leading the No. 3 Orange to a 13-4 victory over No. 4 Princeton.

All in all the Big City Classic looked like a success.  The 25,710 announced attendance was the largest in-season crowd for for a lacrosse-only event (blame Ohio State for forcing that distinction).

No time to rest if you're SU.  The Orange must now prepare for a quick turnaround and play a very motivated 8-2 Cornell in Ithaca on Tuesday.  It will be the first meeting between the two since last year's championship game.