Maryland midfielder Jake Bernhardt underwent shoulder surgery last week and will miss at least a month, coach John Tillman said Tuesday afternoon.
“He’s definitely out for a while,” said Tillman, whose team opens the season Saturday against Hartford. “He could be back. Might. Might not. I don’t see him back for a month or so. I’d say a month is probably fair. Then we’ll see. Could be better, could be worse. I would say a month is pretty fair. We’ll just see how it goes.”
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Bernhardt suffered the left shoulder in a Feb. 4 scrimmage at Loyola. He underwent surgery Wednesday.
Bernhardt is a two-year starter with 32 goals and seven assists in his career. He had a career-high 15 goals, and figured to be valuable as both a first-line midfielder and a defensive midfielder this season.
His brother Jesse is a junior long stick defenseman who will also probably play some at close defense this season.
With Bernhardt out, Maryland will rely on returnees Kevin Cooper, John Haus, Michael Shakespeare and Drew Snider and Princeton transfer Mike Chanenchuk in the midfield.
“Best-case scenario is he makes it mid-year,” Tillman said. “Worst case, he can always redshirt. … We want to put him in when he’s going to be helpful. All the sudden if we throw him in and he does hurt it again, it would burn that redshirt. We just have to be really smart. The positive thing is he has a brother coming back, and having another year is probably not the worst thing in the world.”
—- Patrick Stevens
