By Ryan Mink
rmink@digitalsports.com
Walter Johnson senior Daniel Cohen’s favorite game of his career came his freshman year when the Wildcats beat Churchill in triple overtime on the back of former Walter Johnson standout Joe Brody.
Ever since then, Cohen has been trying to recreate Brody’s performance.
On Friday night he finally did, crafting a new favorite game by beating Churchill on the same field as his freshman year, 8-6.
Cohen, despite constant badgering from one and often times two defenders, scored three goals and notched five assists. In simple terms, he was absolutely dominant. Just as Brody had been three years earlier.
“Whenever I walk on this field that’s all I can think about is his play that game,†Cohen said. “I tried to do that today. … We wanted this game, me and the other four-year seniors, more than anything.â€
Walter Johnson (5-2) fell to Churchill (4-2) in Cohen’s sophomore and junior seasons. Last year’s loss came in overtime.
Cohen wasn’t about to let that happen again Friday night. After Churchill took a 3-1 lead Walter Johnson Coach Jon Mayer shouted across the field to Cohen, giving him the green light to do whatever he liked in order to win the game.
They were the orders Cohen was waiting for. After all, he felt that in earlier losses to Whitman and Wootton he didn’t play as large a part in the offense as he would have liked.
“I just like to have the game in my hands,†Cohen said. “That’s the position I want to be in. I want the ball.â€
But don’t take Cohen’s desire as greed. On nearly every Walter Johnson settled possession, Cohen would take the ball behind the cage and turn his back to the defender, opening himself up to pad cracking beatings from his defender.
He often used his bulky size to back down smaller defenders, getting close enough to the goal to force a long-stick defender to slide to him. But just as the long-pole slid, Cohen often found a teammate open for a shot.
“I don’t have to score all the goals,†Cohen said. “It’s awesome. I’ve got all these other guys that can finish.â€
“He’s always the best player on the field, I think, when he steps on the field in this county,†Mayer said. “It takes more than one guy to stop him, sometimes two guys can’t stop him. It’s amazing to watch him play.â€
Walter Johnson scored six straight goals after Churchill’s 3-1 lead, giving the Wildcats a 7-3 advantage with eight minutes, 16 seconds remaining. Walter Johnson’s defense and goalie Jon Silberman (19 saves) held the Bulldogs scoreless for more than two-and-a-half quarters.
Churchill finally got a goal with 7:24 left from Matt Risk, his second of the game. The Bulldogs scored again two minutes, 29 seconds later to draw to within two goals but Cohen notched his final hurrah to essentially put the game away with 2:28 remaining.
Walter Johnson’s work isn’t over, however. The Wildcats still have tough games against Bethesda-Chevy Chase and Quince Orchard looming.
“We needed a big win,†Cohen said. “Losing to Wootton, losing to Whitman, it all hurt. We’ve got a really tough road coming up. It was a good start.â€
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