Casey Powell lit the fire for all the mocking and badgering back in October. JoJo Marasco has only added fuel to the flames since then.

After the current Syracuse lacrosse team took on the SU alumni squad in the Carrier Dome, Powell — a four-time All-American in his time at SU — looked at Marasco as they walked off the field and yelled out, ‘JoJo, 2-2 easy, right?’

Powell was referring to the No. 22 Syracuse jersey. Marasco, the current owner of the legendary Orange lacrosse No. 22, liked the phrase so much he put it on T-shirts for his close friends and family to wear.

And six months later, the sophomore still hasn’t heard the end of it from his Orange teammates.

A Marasco mistake in practice is greeted by jeers of, ‘JoJo, you’re 2-2 soft.’ When he dodges past a teammate and finishes with a goal, they want to know, ‘Was that 2-2 easy?’

Every single practice. Marasco said he hears it 15 to 20 times daily.

‘I guess that’s the price you pay for taking the jersey,’ he said. ‘I just keep playing my game, let it happen. It’s fun.’

But as much as Marasco and his teammates have taken to the ‘2-2 Easy’ slogan, it is, for the most part, inaccurate. It may look easy at times for the sophomore, especially now that he is officially next in line to build upon the legacy of Syracuse’s No. 22. As SU continues its perfect start to the season, Marasco sits tied for the team lead with, ironically, 22 points.

But ‘2-2 Easy’ implies Marasco’s talents are all natural. That he can succeed with minimal amounts of effort. That he doesn’t have to work to be the best.

And to those who know him best, that could not be further from the truth.

‘He’s probably the hardest-working kid I’ve ever been around,’ said former SU All-American Paul Carcaterra, who has trained with Marasco for the past three summers. ‘That’s why I continue to work with him — because he’s passionate about his training, he’s passionate about the way he approaches the game.

‘He wants to be an elite player. That kind of fuels his fire.’

But Marasco’s first season at Syracuse — his first year working to establish himself among the elite — did not go as planned.

He came in and asked to wear No. 22 immediately. The coaches didn’t give it to him. Instead, that honor went to Cody Jamieson, who was the hero for the Orange when he scored the game-winning goal in the 2009 national championship game against Cornell.

And for the first chunk of that season, it seemed like a brilliant decision.

As he struggled to adjust to the college game, Marasco was labeled an overly confident or even cocky freshman. At Somers High School in Yorktown Heights, N.Y., he was the focal point of the offense.

At Syracuse, the offensive scheme was vastly different. After a goal and two assists in the Orange’s opening contest, Marasco was held to one point through the next four games.

‘They asked him to do a lot of things offensively that oftentimes aren’t within a team concept,’ Carcaterra said of Marasco’s time at Somers. ‘It was more of a ‘give the ball to JoJo’ approach to offense and let him do his thing. And that’s not really what college lacrosse is about.’

But after that fifth game in his freshman season, something clicked.

He scored twice in a 9-8 win over Hobart. He dished out four assists the following game against Villanova. He tallied his first career hat trick against Princeton in the Konica Minolta Big City Classic two games later.

He was reshaping his season and showing everyone glimpses of the talent that made him a top five recruit. He displayed that perhaps it wasn’t so absurd to let him wear that No. 22. At some point.

But three days after his hat trick against the Tigers, Marasco’s season came to a crashing end. He suffered a leg injury against Cornell, and it knocked him out for the rest of the season. He might have been able to return late in the NCAA tournament, but Army upset the Orange in the first round as Marasco watched from the sideline.

‘It was pretty tough just being on the sideline,’ Marasco said. ‘And having the season I was, kind of coming into my own. It’s just tough, watching us lose like that and not being able to do anything.’

But that injury and the time he missed only enhanced Marasco’s drive. It strengthened the will of a sophomore who had a personal trainer since he was in ninth grade.

He continued that last summer, along with an excessively heavy dose of lacrosse. Marasco worked at Carcaterra’s lacrosse camp, played on the same summer league team as the former Orange star and worked out with him individually on skill development three times a week.

And Marasco’s coaches and teammates have taken notice.

‘You can tell,’ SU senior midfielder Josh Amidon said. ‘He’s carrying the ball up better, passing, feeding, shooting a lot better. He’s finding the back of the net a lot more. You can tell that he’s put in his time.’

Marasco is currently tied for the team lead with 22 points. His teammates said his vision has improved, he’s stronger, he’s quicker and he’s a better leader, among the many other praises.

But what hasn’t changed is that brash confidence, the trait that led him to ask for the No. 22 as a freshman. And in defender Brian Megill’s mind, Marasco could not wear the number without it.

‘When everyone’s coming up to you saying, ‘Oh, JoJo, No. 22,’ you’ve got to have some sort of cockiness about you,’ Megill said. ‘You can’t lay low when people make fun of you. Or if you’re not doing well, you’ve got to keep your head on your shoulders and do the next play.’

But Carcaterra sees another reason beyond confidence that pushed Marasco to ask for the legendary jersey. He said twice that Marasco was the hardest-working player he has ever seen. And Carcaterra — a former All-American himself — has played with Casey and Mike Powell, among other lacrosse greats.

And he believes Marasco wanted that No. 22 to push himself even harder.

‘I think that’s his approach to wanting that number,’ Carcaterra said. ‘It had nothing to do with him feeling like he was the best or he was confident. I think it was almost to put more pressure on himself to be great, because he wants to be great.’

Both Marasco and Carcaterra agreed he isn’t there yet. The mentor would like to see Marasco use his instincts more often and create highlights off feeling rather than through structured plays.

And he believes Marasco has the potential to do that. His expectation for the sophomore is to be one of the best players in the country and to leave a lasting mark on Syracuse lacrosse. He said those are also Marasco’s goals for himself.

And the sophomore knows it won’t be ‘2-2 Easy’ to get there.

‘It’s a great feeling to be up there with some of the greatest to ever play here in the country,’ Marasco said. ‘I still have a lot of work to get my name up there, hopefully be like them.’

zjbrown@syr.edu

 

Published on April 5, 2011 at 12:00 pm