BLACKSBURG, Va. — The Terrapins men’s soccer team knew it needed its offense to return to form as it trotted onto Virginia Tech’s Thompson Field on Saturday night.

It just didn’t expect a somewhat overlooked bench player to be the trigger.

Four days earlier, the No. 1 Terps had failed to score for the first time in nearly two years in a scoreless tie against an unranked Seton Hall squad — a major surprise for a team that hadn’t scored fewer than two goals in a game this season.

Kaoru Forbess, who lost his starting job after suffering an ankle injury early this month, made sure that was just an aberration. The senior midfielder tallied two timely assists to help the Terps capture a 2-0 win at Virginia Tech on Saturday.

“Now that his ankle’s better, he’s really been playing hard,” coach Sasho Cirovski said. “He was huge for us tonight.”

After starting the Terps’ (8-0-1, 3-0 ACC) first two games of the season, Forbess injured his ankle during a 4-0 rout of Stanford on Sept. 2. After sitting out the Radford game two days later, he found himself in an unfamiliar position: on the bench.

Impressed by midfielder Jereme Raley’s start against Radford, Cirovski has opted to start the redshirt freshman in Forbess’ slot the past six games. For a senior who has started 30 games over the past two years, the demotion was tough to take.

“You know, it’s been disappointing,” Forbess said. “But I’ve been putting in the work in practice, and it’s just nice to have the stats to back that up.”

After tallying just one assist in the Terps’ first six games, he’s notched three in their previous four. His pair of helpers Saturday elevated him to a fourth-place tie in the ACC for assists, making him the only bench player ranked in the top five.

But Forbess understands that those numbers are meaningless if they aren’t accompanied by wins. And Friday night, he made sure that wasn’t the case.

With no score midway through the first half, Forbess’ free kick found midfielder John Stertzer for an 8-yard header that sailed past Hokies (3-5-0, 1-2) goalkeeper Kyle Renfro.

In the moments before halftime, Forbess provided another timely assist. After the Garland, Texas, native darted past two Hokies defenders, he crossed the ball to forward Casey Townsend, who easily tapped in his ninth goal of the season.

The score silenced a packed Virginia Tech crowd, all but securing the Terps’ first 3-0 start in ACC play since 2003.

“I just had to tip it in,” Townsend said after the game. “[Forbess] really did all the hard work to set me up perfectly.”

Despite dominating possession throughout the full 90 minutes, the Terps struggled to find the net behind Renfro. The sophomore tallied eight saves, just one shy of the career high he notched in a shocking win against then-No. 1 North Carolina earlier this month.

Perhaps most notably, he grabbed four pivotal saves in the first 10 minutes of the second half to blank the Terps in the final 45. That left the two Forbess-assisted goals as the lone scores on a night the Terps outshot Virginia Tech, 20-10.

“Renfro’s a good player,” Townsend said. “If it wasn’t for him, I think we could’ve easily had five or six goals tonight.”

Unlike Seton Hall, which stacked its backline as it essentially played for a tie Tuesday, Virginia Tech put the Terps’ defense to work, as well. Goalkeeper Will Swaim recorded a season-high four saves, including a highlight-caliber dive late in the second half that sewed up his fourth shutout this season.

“They’re a better team than Seton Hall, and they actually played soccer tonight,” said Forbess, alluding to the Pirates’ refusal to attack Tuesday.

With the Virginia Tech win marking the regular season’s halfway point, the Terps can now turn their focus to tomorrow’s home matchup against No. 14 Charlotte.

And although he’ll likely come off the bench, Forbess will be ready to jumpstart the Terps’ offense if necessary.

Just don’t expect him to grow too comfortable in that role.

“Oh, I definitely want to get my starting spot back,” Forbess said.

letourneau@umdbk.com