Joey Jo Jo! Marasco Out Against Rutgers

So it looks like JoJo Marasco won't be playing against Rutgers after all.  That's the worst news I ever heard.

The good news for the freshman, it doesn't sound really serious.

"They're just calling it a lower leg injury," Desko said after practice. "We expect to have him back, we just don't know when. It's nothing like an ACL (knee ligament) or something like that. It all depends on how quickly he responds to treatment."

As Dave Rahme points out, the Orange will miss their sixth-leading scorer when they face Rutgers on Sunday but they will be able to fill his space quite easily as well.

Desko has plenty of options at his disposal. He can move senior captain Chris Daniello, who has been rotating with Marasco at attack and midfield, up top exclusively until Marasco returns. Desko did that for a while Tuesday, using his son, Tim, and redshirt freshman Ryan Barber to carry the ball and quarterback the offense from behind the cage while Daniello played at the midfield. Or he can turn to redshirt freshman midfielders Pete Coleman and Steve Ianzito, who have seen spot duty thus far but have impressed the coaches with their potential.

As for the 5-5 Scarlet Knights, they started the year well but are in the midst of a three-game losing streak and haven't won in the month of April.  Midfielder Justin Pennington leads the way for RU with 20 goals and 12 assists on the year.

SU has beaten Rutgers five-straight and the aggregate score in those games is 79-39.  That trend should continue as the Orange march on towards a top seed.