BELLEVUE, Neb. -- The Bellevue University men's soccer team, under head coach Mark Heath-Preston, announced today the signing of Federico Umani Ronchi (Segrate, Milan, Italy/Virgilio Scientific HS) to a National Letter of Intent to continue his academic and athletic careers at Bellevue beginning in the fall of 2019.
The son of Giacomo Umani Ronchi and Raffaella Todisco, Federico Umani Ronchi is a very adaptable player who shows most of his success as a holding midfielder.
He grew up playing in a very good academy in Milan. Currently, he plays in the Eccellenza (the Italian fifth tier). His team, Alcione Milano, are competing to win the league and gain promotion into Serie D (Italian fourth tier).
Coach Heath-Preston on Umani Ronchi:
"We are excited to bring in Federico to Bellevue University as he is another player who can come in and make an immediate impact. Based off of his great vision and technical abilities, we think he is going to be a great fit in the program. Moreover, he will be the first Italian player to wear the purple and gold."
Umani Ronchi joins earlier signees Eli Brown (Lincoln, Neb./Lincoln East HS), Jan Scheiwiler (Diessenhofen, Switzerland/HKV Schauffenhausen), and Brandon Hardy (Huddersfield, England/Northwest Kansas Technical College) in the Bruins' 2019 recuriting class.
BU complete the first unbeaten regular season in school history in 2018 en route to a final record of 18-2-2. The Bruins reached the A.I.I. Championship Game, hosted an NAIA National Tournament Opening Round game for the first time, and advanced to the NAIA National Tournament Round of 16.
