Just this afternoon, UMTerps.com posted a press release indicating that there’s yet another member of the men’s soccer 2009 signing class: Dominican Republic national team player Gonzalo Frechilla.
Frechilla, 18, had been with the Argentine club Nueva Chicago, but according to the always-accurate Babel Fish translation of the first Web site that broke the news, he “decided to change of course realising a right decision, when obtaining to play soccer is this university.” Or, in actual English, he hadn’t caught on as he’d hoped in the professional ranks in Latin America and soon realized that the reigning national collegiate champion might be able to help him out professionally and academically.
By the way, if you’re keeping count at home, that’s 11 recruits from this class that have filed their National Letters of Intent with Sasho and Co. But why is Gonzalo named as only the 10th in the release?
Well, it seems as if Canadian big man Olivier Lacoste-Lebuis is MIA. The Quebec transplant had enrolled in the spring session (a la Casey Townsend circa 2008) and was expected to contribute this season, but one BigSoccer poster claims that Lacoste-Lebuis may soon be headed out of College Park almost as quickly as he came after suffering a season-ending ankle injury. He’s currently nowhere to be found on the official club roster.
Now that we’re through that digression, I go back to the Dominican. Apparently, Frechilla has already made his mark on TV. He co-starred in this Coke ad in his home country for the Copa Coca-Cola (Coca-Cola Cup). It’s got everything you’d expect from the soda giants: a catchy tune, red and white in places you wouldn’t expect, and great hair.
¡Hasta la vista…!
Jonas Shaffer is The Diamondback’s men’s soccer beat writer. He can be reached at shaffer@umdbk.com. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/jonas_shaffer.