In search of that finishing touch

Dribbling down the middle of the field against St. John's on Aug. 21, Terrapin men's soccer midfielder Kaoru Forbess chipped a picture-perfect pass over a cluster of defenders to forward Jason Herrick on the left side of the penalty box.

Without hesitation, Herrick found forward Casey Townsend all alone on the other side of the box. Townsend struck the ball toward the net for the Terps' second goal in a four-minute span during their 3-0 exhibition win.

Less than 15 minutes into their first exhibition match of the season, the No. 6 Terps had already hit their goal of scoring twice. The attack displayed a connectedness groomed from years of playing together and helped by a finally healthy set of attackers.

"You can see it on the field that we've had an extra year together," Townsend said. "We've really worked on our synchronization."

It was also a cohesion seemingly missing from last year's team, which produced its worst offensive output in a decade. For the first time during that span, the Terps averaged less than 1.5 goals per game and scored on less than 10 percent of their shots.

In each of the five seasons leading up to coach Sasho Cirovski's first national championship in 2005, the team routinely fielded prolific scorers, highlighted by All-America selections Jason Garey and Abe Thompson, who rank No. 1 and No. 3, respectively, on the Terps' all-time scoring list.

This year, Cirovski has ingrained in his team a mission of returning to the program's old scoring ways.

The Terps finished their exhibition game against the Red Storm with three goals, all of which came from the team's starting unit. The team hit a snag at UMBC just three days later, failing to score. Cirovski attributed the lack of energy from his team to the two practices earlier that day.

But the Terps stormed back against Georgetown on Saturday with two goals on 18 shots, including one less than 10 minutes in.

"I still think our spacing in our attack needs to become better," Cirovski said Saturday. "We need to become more efficient in our chances."

But if the preseason is any indication of where the Terps are now and how far they have come from just a year ago, then their target for goals might not be too farfetched.

"I think this team's chemistry is a little bit more closer actually than [in 2008], so hopefully we don't have to rely on Jeremy Hall or Graham Zusi to come up with a big goal," said goalkeeper Zac MacMath, referencing two of the stars on the 2008 title team. "But we can rely on any guy on the field to score goals for us."

The key this season will lie in the Terps' ability to stay healthy. Injuries to Townsend and midfielders Doug Rodkey and Matt Kassel hampered the team's scoring last year, eliminating any rhythm the offense might have formed at the beginning of the season.

"Yeah, it's great right now," Cirovski said of the team's health, a wide grin spreading across his face. "Let's just hope that the good Lord can bless us this year."

ceckard@umdbk.com