By Daniel Chiat

Senior staff writer

On multiple occasions this season, Terrapin coach Sasho Cirovski said an “internal investigation” should be held if star senior forward Jason Garey fails to win the Hermann Trophy – collegiate soccer’s equivalent to the Heisman.

And after Garey was named one of three finalists Friday at the Terps’ semifinal game against Southern Methodist, it did not take the program’s all-time leading goal-scorer to show the nation why.

In a record-setting 15-second span less than two minutes into the second half, Garey struck twice to give the Terps an insurmountable three-goal lead as they went on to rout SMU, 4-1.

First, Garey finished a deft crossing pass by Robbie Rogers from the top. Then, Maurice Edu created a turnover off the restart and knocked the ball to Garey, who was on a run down the near side and beat the Mustangs’ goalkeeper.

Those two goals – the fastest consecutive scores in NCAA history – helped earn Garey, a Gonzales, La., native, the College Cup’s Most Outstanding Offensive Player award.

Despite his memorable scoring outburst, Garey deflected the praise.

“I thought it should’ve gone to [senior forward Marc Burch], personally,” Garey said. “I get a lot of recognition and that type of stuff, but there’s a lot of guys on the team that deserve a lot of credit as well.”

Whether they came from Garey, Burch or another player, scoring goals was never really a problem throughout the season for the national champions. The Terps’ 66 goals – an average of 2.64 per game – broke last season’s record of 62.

“Every year we get better and better attacking players coming in,” said Garey, referring specifically to freshmen forwards Rogers and Graham Zusi. “That number is just going to keep going up because the way we play soccer.”

“What’s really nice is that we’re scoring goals against good teams,” Cirovski added.

Garey had a golden opportunity in each half against No. 2-seeded New Mexico Sunday to add to the Terps’ total, but uncharacteristically misfired. Shocked that he did not convert, he buried his head in his jersey after each shot went awry.

“Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, I’ll score those goals,” said Garey, who finished his second straight season with 22 goals. “But that happens.”

To make up for the misses, the College Cup’s Most Outstanding Offensive Player ironically perhaps had his biggest impact in the championship game on defense. At least three times, Garey headed out Lobos’ corner kicks to prevent quality shots.

“Sasho told me before the game that with [senior defender Kenney Bertz] being out and them having some really big guys, that me and Marc would have to be the guys to win the balls in the back,” Garey said. “Once we went up a goal, I was more worried about not letting them score than taking too many chances myself.”

All season, Garey largely capitalized when he did have chances – many times in dramatic fashion. And because of that, Cirovski will likely need not worry about conducting an investigation when the Hermann Trophy is announced Jan. 6 in St. Louis.

Contact reporter Daniel Chiat at chiatdbk@gmail.com.