Nick Mariano didn’t feel comfortable at midfield even after practicing there throughout the fall. He spent all but three days in Syracuse over Winter Break to work out, but still felt unstable. With three weeks left until the season, he was still learning.

Nineteen days before Syracuse’s season opener against Siena, which will come on Saturday, the new position felt more natural.

“For some reason I just got really comfortable with the offense and defense,” Mariano said of the turning point of his preseason adjustments. “Obviously I’m still a little shaky on defense but offensively I thought I was starting to click better and starting to know my role.”

Mariano said he hasn’t played much at midfield since he was in sixth grade in 2007, when Beyoncé’s “Irreplaceable” was No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 and just months before the first iPhone would be released. Throughout middle school, throughout high school and when he led Massachusetts the past two seasons with 51 goals and 30 assists, all he played was attack.

Since transferring to Syracuse, Mariano has shown to coaches the offensive prowess to contribute right away, but he’s still learning how to stick with opposing midfielders on rides after turnovers and play defense.

“That’s one of the things we’ll work on,” SU head coach John Desko said. “We’d like him by the end of the season to be capable (on defense), but for now, we’re focusing on getting him off the field as quick as possible.”

While Mariano is working out the kinks at midfield, Desko said he could also see time at attack and has been practicing at both spots leading up to the season. At attack, Mariano developed a niche for canning goals with lefty rips from just beyond goal-line extended. As he’d curl around from behind the net, he’d slip the ball into tight windows.

Midfielder Tim Barber said he saw improvement from Mariano throughout January as he developed other moves. Barber said Mariano appears less hesitant to shoot and has been working on his new skills.

“That just gives him the confidence to know he can shoot from the outside and shoot on the run,” Barber said, “which is a lot different from what he’s seen in the past at UMass.”

In a scrimmage against No. 10 Brown on Saturday, Mariano caught a pass near the top of the restraining box. He wound up with the stick in his left hand and fired a shot into the top left corner of the goal.

It was his first and only goal in SU’s three preseason scrimmages, but, if only for just one play, provided a glimpse at the offensive firepower he can bring to the Orange.

Mariano is just the next player to follow a trend of Syracuse attacks converting to midfield. Two years ago, Derek Maltz and Billy Ward moved to midfield. Last year, Nicky Galasso scored 45 points from the midfield, the most on SU from someone outside of the starting attack line.

A player with the dodging skills of an attack could take advantage of being guarded by a short stick instead of a long pole.

“Hopefully it stays that way the rest of the season and I still have success,” Mariano said of being defended by short sticks. “It’s nice knowing I don’t have to get guarded by the No. 1 guy and get slid to every time I touch the ball.”

As of now, Mariano’s switch to midfield is still a work in progress, but his offense isn’t the problem.

And while he hadn’t started feeling comfortable defensively until three weeks before the season starts, he’s turning the corner just in time.

“It was a big learning curve,” Mariano said. “… I think I’m starting to adjust each week, and I’m trying to get better every day and just help the team as best I can.”

Published on February 8, 2016 at 10:26 pm

Contact Paul: pmschwed@syr.edu | @pschweds