Terps handle Navy thanks to Forbess

This time around, Kaoru Forbess won't have any doubts about his goal.

Exactly four weeks after having the memory of his own game-winning goal temporarily erased by a painful collision, Forbess did just enough once more Tuesday night to secure a win for the No. 6 Terrapin men's soccer team.

His turn-and-fire early in the contest was all the Terps (11-4-2) would get and, as it turned out, all they needed in a largely uneventful 1-0 victory over visiting Navy.

"Somebody had to step up, and I just happened to be at the right place at the right time," Forbess said.

On Oct. 6, Forbess notched his first goal of his career against Loyola Chicago after easily putting away a header off a cross from defender Kwame Darko. Although the Terps ultimately prevailed in a 1-0 win on the lone score, the game came at a cost for the sophomore midfielder.

Minutes after his goal, a streaking Forbess slammed into a Loyola Chicago player near midfield, dropping him to the field for several minutes. He later walked off on his own power, but the collision was so jarring Forbess was unavailable to speak to the media afterward.

For a while, a dazed Forbess didn't even know he'd been the one Terp to grace the scoreline.

"I was like, ‘Who scored the goal?'" Forbess recounted Tuesday.

Against the Midshipmen (8-10), it was again Darko who helped Forbess score. After Forbess collected a loose ball near the top of the box in the 10th minute, he faked a pass to an overlapping Darko, pivoted on the spot and curled a right-footed rainbow that beat Midshipmen goalkeeper Will Craven to his right.

"He's going to be a special player in this program," coach Sasho Cirovski said. "He's had some really good moments this year, he's had a couple of off days … Tonight was a little of a breakthrough for him. I thought he had a terrific game."

The Terps outshot Navy 19-5, but the match bore little resemblance to the Terps' earlier showings. After not practicing Monday, forward Jason Herrick (hip) did not play last night.

Forward Casey Townsend, meanwhile, played only 28 minutes in the first half before leaving.

With the normal frontline out, some of the Terps' young guns again got their looks — but not their goals. Freshman forward John Stertzer nearly punched in a deflection off a header in the second half, and freshman forward Jordan Cyrus almost found the net after turning off his marker inside the box and firing a shot that ricocheted off the crossbar.

"We need that," Cirovski said. "Jason and Casey have taken a beating, and it was good that they gave us that performance tonight."

Defender Taylor Kemp, bothered by what Cirovski called a leg injury, also did not start yesterday for the first time all season. Cirovski said he hopes Herrick and Kemp will be able to go Friday against the College of Charleston, but he was content that nobody else got injured.

"It was a good soccer game," he said, grinning. "I think it's the first game we've come out of in seven weeks with everyone healthy."

shaffer@umdbk.com