After seeing limited time on the field last year, Gal has taken the full-time spot as the No. 4-ranked men’s lacrosse team’s goalie, and he is taking advantage of every minute he is between the pipes.

In 12 games played this season, Gal is 10-1 with a 6.84 goals against average and a 0.647 save percentage. On top of that, he has also made an astonishing 141 saves. On average, that is 11.75 saves a game.

“He’s worked out consistently,” Head Coach Jeff Long said. “He had a great game against Cortland, and now we’re trying to get that same effort out of him every game.”

In the game against the Blue and Gold’s archrival on March 21 that ended in an 11–8 Ithaca win, Gal made an outstanding 22 saves. He has surpassed the 15-save mark in four other games this season. These performances are some of the reasons why he is now the full-time starter.

“He trained hard in the off-season, and he just kind of flat-out won the position, and he’s got good competition behind him,” Long said.

His play does not only show why he is the starter, it also shows why Ithaca’s defense has been playing so well on the field. This year, the Bombers are only allowing seven goals per game and have shot almost 100 more shots than their opponents.

When opponents do take shots on Gal, he uses more than one method to stop them. He’ll make one-on-one saves and saves of shots that bounce off the ground, for example.

“No goalie in the country should be making saves like that,” senior tri-captain defenseman Neth Wiedemann said. “He pulls it off, and half the guys on the team are like, ‘Oh my gosh! Did you just see that? Are you kidding me? Like, what was that?’”

But Gal’s talent for goaltending isn’t the only thing that sets himself apart from his teammates. Underneath his helmet and mask is a wild dreadlocked hairstyle that has become an essential part of Gal’s identity.

Gal’s locks don’t flow like Manny Ramirez’s or a hippie on The Commons but are cut short, with each dread only about an inch or two long.

“I’ve had it since like middle school, beginning of elementary and just kind of kept it because I never really felt the need to really do anything just because I didn’t really care a whole lot,” Gal said.

Wiedemann said his goalie’s hair is a testament to his personality. He said Gal is an individual and the top of his head just proves that he isn’t just an average guy.

“I don’t really know where that comes from to be honest with you,” Wiedemann said laughing. “I don’t know if he just woke up one day and decided he wanted to have dreads or what that’s about. It’s a testament. He’s an individual tough guy. He does his thing, and I guess doesn’t really care what other people think about him.”