As the season has gone on, Syracuse‘s new-look midfield has vastly improved.

A unit in question, losing its all-around ball-handler in Matt Abbott, its point guard in Kenny Nims and its power scorer in Dan Hardy, had finally risen to the occasion.

But now, the Orange may be faced with another question in the midfield — how to replace the injured JoJo Marasco.

The freshman was hurt in the first quarter of the Orange’s game at Cornell Tuesday night and did not return to the field with a lower left leg injury. He sat on the bench, writhing in pain before heading to the locker room with trainers. He later returned to the sidelines on crutches. Marasco has been a spark for the SU offense, and his development this year has gone hand in hand with the overall improvement of the midfield throughout the season.

He did not practice Thursday and head coach John Desko said he was still unsure if the freshman would be able to play when the Orange (9-1, 2-0 Big East) heads to Rutgers (5-5, 1-1) for a game at 6 p.m. Sunday. Desko added that Marasco has had X-rays done, and they will wait to hear a doctor’s opinion before making a decision.

Junior midfielder Jovan Miller believes that if Marasco cannot play against Rutgers, it will be a major blow to the Orange attack.

‘It’s a huge loss because he’s more of an attackman just in the midfield spot,’ he said. ‘He opens up things a lot for us … JoJo’s definitely a matchup problem for a lot of teams, and not having that is definitely going to be a big loss.’

The injury comes at a time when Marasco, who is sixth on the team with 17 points, seemed to be figuring out his role in the SU offense. In the first five games this year, the freshman tallied only two goals and two assists, including three straight games without a point.

But in the four games before his injury, Marasco became the Orange‘s spark off the bench. He registered 13 points during that stretch, as much of the settled offensive attack ran through him when he stepped on the field.

After the midfielder scored a career-high five points on a goal and four assists against Villanova, Desko explained that the slow start probably resulted from the coaching staff asking Marasco to learn both the attack and midfield positions.

‘I think that we’ve asked a lot of him as a freshman to learn two positions within the offense and to learn the rides and clears,’ Desko said. ‘I think it’s difficult at first. It’s a little confusing at first, but it really makes you a better player going on down the road.’

Marasco’s main contributions to the offense have come from his work behind the net, which is referred to in lacrosse as inverting. Many times this year, he gets the ball near the back end line to begin his move. He dodges around his defender as his teammates move to get open in front. He then either dishes off to an open man on the crease or carries the ball around in front on his own.

‘He’s a good athlete and we just kind of broke him down into our offense, and he picked it up very well,’ junior midfielder Josh Amidon said. ‘He even stepped it up where the other middies kind of learned some things from him. He helped us out a lot.’

When Marasco went out against Cornell, senior Chris Daniello rotated between the attack and midfield positions, and redshirt freshmen Ryan Barber, Steve Ianzito and Pete Coleman also stepped in to replace him.

Desko said that rotation will be used against Rutgers should Marasco not be able to play. He added that the coaching staff will have to evaluate which of the other midfielders is the best to invert this weekend.

‘We lose a player, someone who’s been getting better every game and has played two positions for us and can invert from the midfield position,’ Desko said of Marasco. ‘… We think he’s getting better at the right time of year, understanding the offense from two positions, and (his injury) gives us one less card to use in the game.’

 

zjbrown@syr.edu

Published on April 14, 2010 at 12:00 pm