Maryland's Donovan Pines joins D.C. United
Make it five Terps with a shot at playing in Major League Soccer this season.
Maryland junior center back Donovan Pines is the latest to make the jump, signing a Homegrown contract with D.C. United, the club announced this week.
Pines joins the MLS franchise after a superb 2018 season, where he anchored a Maryland back line that conceded no goals in the NCAA Tournament on the way to winning the program's first national championship since 2008. He made 22 appearances, loggin more than 2,000 minutes of action along the way. The 6-foot-5 defender earned Best XI First Team Honors from TopDrawerSoccer.
🚨NEWS🚨 | D.C. United Sign Academy Product Donovan Pines!
READ | https://t.co/79z7xb0SCt#DCU pic.twitter.com/JYDE1Sj6g5— D.C. United (@dcunited) January 23, 2019
"We have monitored Donovan's progression at Maryland and feel he is ready to take the next step in his career,” D.C. United General Manager and VP of Soccer Operations Dave Kasper said in a statement. "He fits the profile of a modern MLS center back in a physically demanding league and has the technical qualities that suit our system. We are excited to add our second Homegrown Signing of the offseason and look forward to integrating Donovan with the rest of the squad in preseason."
During his three years at Maryland, Pines made a total of 56 appearances, starting in 39 matches for the Terps. A native of Clarksville, Md., prior to joining the Big Ten program, Pines played in 99 matches at various age groups for the D.C. United Academy.
The defender joins the recently signed Antonio Bustamante, Jalen Robinson, Bill Hamid and Chris Durkin as active Homegrown signings on the D.C. United roster.
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