For the first time in nine months, Isaac Collings’ left knee finally stopped hurting. All he had to do was test his reconstructed anterior cruciate ligament on the soccer field.

Early in his first summer rehab match for IMG Academy, a top national program in Bradenton, Fla., Collings thought he was ready for the rigors of his junior season at Syracuse University.

Suddenly, a quick cut and a loud pop. The Orange midfielder crumpled to the artificial turf, grabbing his knee in pain.

It wasn’t his left knee this time. It was his right knee, torn just like his left one in September. Right away, Collings knew he would spend another season watching the Orange from the bench.

Collings joins a fellow junior forward Pete Rowley on the injured list, leaving two important Syracuse players out for the year with ACL injuries. The Orange travels to Columbus, Ohio, this weekend to battle Penn State and Ohio State tonight and Sunday respectively to open the 2007 season.

With a pair of key contributors sidelined, the games will begin to answer the big question since June: Who is ready to fill those roles?

‘It’s definitely very tough. It was bad enough I had to miss out almost all of last season,’ Collings said. ‘I was really upset over the summer, but I’m starting to get over it now.’

Despite the two major injuries, Syracuse enters the season with its most veteran team in years. The Orange has eight returning starters and expects its overall team experience to compensate for the losses of Collings and Rowley.

Syracuse head coach Dean Foti spent many hours of practice teaching young players and working freshmen into Division I competition. Now he has more than just a handful of players who know the system and Big East competition.

Having so many upperclassmen has only helped on the practice field. The veteran starters have served as mentors for the younger players, a luxury Foti did not have last season.

‘It’s nice to have 80-85 percent of the team knowing what you want to have done already,’ Foti said. ‘The coaches are teaching the team from the outside in. The rest of the team, the veteran senior players, the upperclassmen are teaching the team from the inside out. You’re hitting them from two sides instead of just one.’

But the midfield unit Collings was supposed to bolster is the youngest, most inexperienced part of the team. Sophomore Luis Martinez, who started 15 matches last season, is a given to start. After that, the position is still unknown.

Foti singled out sophomore Kenny Caceros and freshman Justin Arena as players who could potentially make up for their injured teammates, but he acknowledged the midfielders are the squad’s biggest question mark heading into the season. Though Martinez notched three assists last year, Foti said the key this season is controlling the tempo of the game.

Even though the midfielders are younger, Martinez looks forward to seeing experienced teammates he developed a relationship with last season.

‘It’s a huge difference because they got experience last year, and they’re going to be giving us more confidence,’ Martinez said. ‘To be honest, you feel more motivated because you have more experienced players from the year before coming back to start the games.’

As of Wednesday evening, Foti had not announced the lineup for tonight’s game, keeping the starters a mystery until the match.

Since the injuries occurred months before training camp, the newcomers knew they had a chance to earn a key role early in the season. Collings and Rowley may be out, but their departures leave the door wide open for somebody.

Now somebody has to take advantage.

‘It’s not ideal, but at least we were able to plan for it, and you can start to develop roles for other players to step into their shoes,’ Foti said. ‘We had a little time to prepare. It’s not like we were able to go out and recruit other players to take their place, but it’ll just give other people on the team an opportunity.’

Published on August 31, 2007 at 12:00 pm