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Maryland soccer’s Paul Bin will miss the 2019 season with a torn ACL, the program confirmed Wednesday morning. He suffered the injury in practice Tuesday.
Bin was entering his redshirt senior season, and he’s expected to take a medical redshirt and return in 2020.
“Obviously I’m gutted not to be able to play this season,” Bin said in a press release. “I know I’ll be back stronger. I have an amazing support system with family, friends, my teammates, my coaches and the medical staff at Maryland. I have no doubt that the team is going to do well without me and I’ll be supporting them every step of the way.”
The South Korean forward was a crucial member of the Terps’ 2018 championship run, as his emergence late in the season gave the attack much-needed firepower. In 21 games and 19 starts last year, Bin scored four goals and added three assists. His highlights included a game-winning goal against Penn State and the lone score in a 1-0 win over Denver.
With attacking midfielder Amar Sejdic and forward Sebastian Elney graduating after last season, Bin figured to play a prominent role on offense for the Terps, who will start the season No. 1 in the United Soccer Coaches poll. This injury will force the rest of the roster to step up, with forwards Eric Matzelevich and Luke Brown (a grad transfer from Hofstra) in particular handling more responsibility.
Bin came to Maryland in 2015 and appeared in one game as a freshman. He left the team in 2016 to focus on his mental health, then returned to play a reserve role in 2017 before a breakout season last fall. Losing him for the season stings, but head coach Sasho Cirovski believes Bin will remain one of the team’s leaders from the sideline.
“We are heartbroken for Paul,” Cirovski said. “In 27 years of coaching, I’ve never seen a player address a team with so much poise, class and substance when faced with another bout of adversity. A half hour after hearing about his injury, Paul eloquently told the team that he would not allow this challenge to bring him down and instead that he would embrace it, support his teammates and come back even stronger. After what he’s been through, it was a remarkable lesson for the whole team and Paul will continue to be a valuable leader for us this season.”