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Diego Grande to play college soccer at Dominican University

By SF Glens SC Staff, 03/04/21, 4:00PM PST

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Homegrown SF Glens Academy player commits to local university for the fall

SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco Glens winger Diego Grande announced on Thursday that he has committed to play college soccer at Dominican University.

As one of the first direct signings from the Under-16 Academy side in 2019 to the USL League Two First Team, the current 17-year-old senior at Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep has represented the club at multiple levels. Now Grande will compete for a rising Dominican program in the fall as an incoming freshman before returning to the Glens’ First Team the following summer.

“I want to thank everyone who’s helped me along the way to make me see that earning a college scholarship is possible, starting with my family, my friends, the Target Foundation for funding my scholarship with the club, and last but not least, everyone at the Glens,” Grande said. 

Grande has enjoyed several highlights in the Green and White, especially in 2019 before the pandemic. Aside from scoring in his First Team debut against Academy of Art University in an April friendly, the Pacifica, California, native captained the Glens U16 team to the Donosti Cup final in San Sebastian, Spain that summer. 

He then helped lead the U17 side to an unbeaten run in the inaugural USL Academy Cup in the winter of that same year, while also traveling to Germany to train with the youth academy of Holstein Kiel, the Glens’ partner club in 2. Bundesliga.

“From my teammates to all my coaches, especially Jimmy Conrad, Javier Ayala-Hil, Benkay Kajihara, Danny Kirkland, and Mike McNeill, as well as Coach Dave [Frank] and Diego [Marroquin] from Dominican, who have supported me from day one, thank you so much,” Grande added.

Glens executive director Mike McNeill, who also coached Grande in the Academy, was effusive with his praise.

“I'm extremely proud to see Diego have this opportunity to play at the next level after growing and developing with us all those years,” McNeill said. "To watch him and his family now enjoy the fruits of their labor for everything they've contributed to our club brings us all immense joy.”

Grande is the 33rd Glens player in the last three years who have gone on from their Pathway Pyramid to either play in college, sign a professional contract, or be selected in the MLS SuperDraft. Learn more at sfglens.com/pathway.

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