Defender London Woodberry is one of three converted forwards playing for the Terps’ resurgent back line.

Sitting together, the starting Terrapin men’s soccer backline hunkered down in the varsity team house before practice yesterday and sat in front of a television. The scene was familiar.

Even after shutting out the nation’s top offense Tuesday night, coach Sasho Cirovski still had the unit — defenders Taylor Kemp, Alex Lee, Ethan White and London Woodberry and goalkeeper Zac MacMath — dissect its performance on film, as it has tirelessly for the past month, searching for tendencies, strengths and weaknesses of both itself and the Terps’ next opponent.

This week, it was more important than ever. In a span of five days, the Terps welcomed two of the nation’s most dynamic scorers to College Park. Still, the Terps found a way to hold both Duke forward Ryan Finley and Connecticut midfielder Tony Cascio scoreless in convincing wins.

At the season’s midpoint, the defense’s efforts have become the driving force behind the resurgent No. 6 Terps (6-2-1). Its renewed focus on watching film and bonding both during and after practices has transformed a group rife with potential into one feared by opposing offenses.

“They’ve watched probably more soccer video than they have ever seen in their life,” Cirovski said. “They’re all very good friends, and I think it’s taken a little bit of time to just get comfortable in their roles.”

Their acclimation has shown on the field. No. 2 Connecticut — the nation’s highest-scoring team — failed to register a single goal Tuesday.

“We can just see plays, tendencies and how they play,” Lee said. “It’s just easy to see what they’re going to do.”

The current combination of Kemp, Lee, White and Woodberry wasn’t one many envisioned on the backline when the four came to College Park.

Lee played his freshman season with the Terps as a striker before moving to the back as a sophomore. After starting the season at right back, he’s moved to center right back after an injury to defender Greg Young. With Young’s injury, White moved from right to left center back and is still adjusting to clearing the ball from a different side of the field.

Woodberry played forward in high school, even scoring 38 goals as a junior, but Cirovski foresaw the Texas native playing right back instead.

Much like Woodberry, Kemp, who did not regularly start in a defensive position until his senior year of high school, also came in with an attacker’s mindset but a defender’s role.

“He had to learn to change his paradigm of thinking to being a defender first,” Cirovski said of Kemp. “To be fair, all of them have really had to learn the nuances of defending, both individually and organizationally, and it’s something they’ve gotten better and better at.”

Given the group’s inexperience, Cirovski has used exhaustive amounts of film to help guide the foursome. But more importantly, the Terps feel their communication has been key to the defense’s maturation. Their ease on the field is grounded in their off-field relationships.

Lee played two years of club soccer with White, and White, Kemp and Woodberry all entered in the same recruiting class.

“I live with Alex,” Woodberry said. “So me and Alex have a really good bond together on the field and off of it. We’re going to have a really good partnership in the future.”

Since Young’s injury, the Terps have allowed just three goals in five matches and compiled back-to-back shutout wins for the first time in more than a year.

“I think our backline is really coming together,” Cirovski said. “You can see the partnership with Ethan and Alex is getting better and better. Taylor is getting better every game, and right now he has been one of our best players over the past four or five games. London is settling in [to his starting job].”

As the defense continues to gel, the Terps are moving past their early season slip-ups. Since allowing four goals to No. 18 Michigan State on Sept. 3, the Terps have allowed just four goals in eight matches.

“This young, talented backline is coming together, and that’s given us a lot of confidence,” Cirovski said. “They’re all fierce competitors, and they are valuing shutting teams down more and more every day.”

ceckard@umdbk.com