Wrestling coach Kerry McCoy looks on during a match in 2012.

The Terrapins wrestling team led Navy by two points heading into the deciding match on Jan. 19, when 141-pound Frank Goodwin was set to face the Midshipmen’s Joe Locksmith. A win for either wrestler would result in a victory for their respective team.

Just less than five minutes into the match, though, Goodwin’s left knee got caught and twisted in a way it shouldn’t have. Locksmith saw his crippled opponent and took advantage, pinning him seconds before the close of the second period to clinch a win for Navy.

But the loss was the least of coach Kerry McCoy’s concerns.

His starter at 141 pounds was severely injured and the doctors’ diagnosis was not good. Goodwin suffered an almost completely torn LCL, a sprained ACL, and an additional torn ligament and tendon in the back of his knee.

It was less than two months until the ACC Championships, and it looked as if Goodwin’s 2013 campaign had come to an abrupt end.

“Doctors said he was done for the year,” said McCoy, whose Terps will begin wrestling at the NCAA Championships today. “Under normal circumstances, the average person would have been done for the year.”

Goodwin isn’t average, though.

The Pasadena, Md., native remains one of the best high school wrestlers in state history. A two-time state champion, Goodwin compiled 169 career wins — 102 by pin — and was the No. 4 recruit in the nation at his weight class coming out of Arundel High School.

And 49 days after the fateful Navy meet, the junior returned to the mat — although not in top form — for the conference championships at Comcast Center.

But he didn’t stop there.

Goodwin defeated Duke’s Tanner Hough in the consolation semifinals of the 141-pound bracket, earning fourth place in the ACC and an automatic qualifying bid to the NCAA Championships in Des Moines, Iowa.

“I’ve been trying to wrestle in this tournament for forever,” said Goodwin, who will take on No. 2 seed Kendric Maple of Oklahoma in this morning’s opening round. “And to be able to come back just in time and qualify was really big.”

Four other Terps will be competing today: 133-pound Geoffrey Alexander, 174-pound Josh Asper, 184-pound Jimmy Sheptock and 197-pound Christian Boley.

Asper (No. 2) and Sheptock (No. 7) were the only Terps to be seeded by the NCAA, but McCoy will have half of his team competing and has full intention of making some noise on the national stage.

“We’re going to score points as a team and we’re going to place as a team,” McCoy said. “We don’t have the normal 10 guys to rely on; we have five. But if the individuals do their job, it’s going to help the team.”

Goodwin is on the same page.

And after weeks of hard work and grueling rehabilitation with trainer Kalin Fisher, he’s ready to continue moving forward.

There’s no denying the injury has and will continue to hinder his performance. He has lost his endurance and cannot ride legs on his left side. Not to mention every match he has to constantly work to protect his already damaged knee.

But it is going to take a whole lot more than that to stop him.

“I always go into everything with a goal and the goal [for NCAAs] is to win as many matches as I can and maybe earn All-American if it’s possible,” Goodwin said. “I can do anything.”

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