BROCKTON, Mass. ---- The 2019 edition of the Massasoit men's soccer team will host CCBC Cantonsville to open the year on Friday at Warrior Field with kickoff slated for 4 PM.
The Warriors are led on the sidelines by veteran head coach Rui Estrela, who enters his 14th season guiding the men's soccer program. He will be joined by familiar faces as assistant coaches in Dave DaSilva, Junior Olivier and Manny Pimentel.
Massasoit is coming off another Region 21 Championship from a season ago, its sixth-straight, and finished runner up at the Northeast District Tournament, falling to Monroe College 3-2 at home.
CCBC Cantonsville makes the trek up to Massachusetts from Maryland. The Cardinals posted a 10-8 overall record last year and finished runner up at the Region 10 Tournament.
Estrela's squad boasts five returners from the 2018 campaign, all which are Brockton natives in Maldini Da Fonseca, David Isaac, Edmar Goncalves, Jorge Goncalves and Helio Goncalves.
Da Fonseca is expected to play up top, as the striker finished with four goals and five assists in 11 games last season.
Isaac returns at goalie, having started and played every minute of all 15 matches as a true freshman. The keeper made 69 total saves and posted three shutouts for the Warriors.
Edmar and Jorge Goncalves are expected to see time as central midfielders, while Helio Goncalves will see game action for the Warrior defense.
With a boatload of newcomers, the Massasoit lineup will be sprinkled with plenty of local Brockton High School talent, including Leonardo Teixeira, Esteven Gomes, Leondro De Barros and Paulo Ramalho.
Teixeira comes to Massasoit after an illustrious career with the Boxers, setting the school record with 50 goals. A two-time Enterprise All-Scholastic selection, the forward was named Enterprise Player of the Year in 2017 as a junior and finished with 19 goals as senior.
Gomes, was also an all-scholastic choice, playing at center midfield for the Boxers, and as the captain scored six goals and dished out eight assists as a senior.
Rounding the all-scholastic selections is De Barros, who played in the back row for Brockton and his expected to be a central defender for Massasoit.
Another forward that brings plenty of accolades is Aiden Sprague (Holbrook) from Blue Hills Regional Tech. Sprague graduated with a school record 80 goals, was named MVP of the Mayflower Athletic Conference Large Voc Division and scored 21 goals as senior.
Several Brockton natives in Fred John Andrade (midfield), Kevin Dias (defense), Mivando Alves (midfield), Juliano Andrade (forward), Djeisson Fernandes (midfield) and Carlens Jean (defense) are expected to contribute for the Warriors.
Freshman Kaegan DeFeo of Plymouth will share time with Isaac in net for Massasoit, and Foxboro native Matt Garcia and Marshfield native Nick Petrillo will see time as outside midfielders.
Following Friday's match, the Warriors will be off until the following weekend when they travel to Mercer County CC and Rowan College at Burlington County.