Coming To America: Women’s Soccer adds Brazilian player

While the women’s World Cup will be over Sunday afternoon, Ole Miss students and Oxford locals will not have to go far or wait long to watch women’s soccer again.

The Ole Miss women’s soccer team led by second-year coach Matt Mott will open the season at home against Southern Miss on Aug. 19.

This year’s team will also include a touch of international flavor with the addition of sophomore transfer Rafaelle Souza from Salvador, Brazil.

While new students always face an adjustment period after moving in and starting college, Rafaelle also must adjust to living in a new country with a completely different language and culture.

While Rafaelle understands English and is able to speak it, she also has a translator in case she needs helps as she grows more accustomed to English. Her translator, Thatianna, is a graduate student here at Ole Miss, who is also from Brazil. Rafaelle said she doesn’t believe her limited English will affect her relationships with the other players on the team.

“I don’t think that my lack of fully understanding English yet will affect my play because I believe soccer is a universal language,” she said. “I feel that myself and the team will be able to communicate to each other through our play rather than our words.”

Her teammates have been impressed so far by Rafaelle’s adjustment to America this summer.

“She has been working hard all summer and working with the team as much as possible,” senior Abbie Curran said. “We are doing our best to help make her feel comfortable with us and try and make the transition as easy as it can be for her.”

The decision to attend Ole Miss from Brazil is not one you hear too often, but Rafaelle said she knew this was the place for her after her visit in the spring.

“The main reason I choose to come to Ole Miss was the town,” she said. “I loved Oxford and the environment around the town and university. Also, Ole Miss offers a civil engineering major, which is what I was looking to get into. So once I found that out, I knew this was the place I wanted to be.”

The coaching staff is excited for Rafaelle to be here and can’t wait to see what she is going to be able to do on the field this season.

“We are very excited to have Rafaelle join our program,” coach Mott said. “She is going to bring a very good international flavor to our team and our game. She is a very talented attacking player that will certainly help us going forward for 2011 and beyond.” 

As coach Mott mentioned, Rafaelle will bring an international style of play with her, as well as international experience she gained while playing for the 2009 Brazil Women’s U-17 World Cup team. Among her teammates was Marta, whom many people consider the top women’s player in the world.

Rafaelle credits Marta for helping her become a better player on the field, as well as helping her to appreciate the things she has worked for.

“The only word to describe my experience with that team and with Marta was incredible,” Rafaelle said. “It wasn’t just the fulfillment of a dream as a player, but looking up to Marta as a role model. Seeing where she came from and how hard she worked to get to where she is now, it has helped me to appreciate what my hard work has paid off for more.”

While Rafaelle is disappointed Marta and Brazil were knocked out of the World Cup last Sunday by the United States, she said that it is now anybody’s championship to win.

“Once you get to the quarterfinals, it is anyone’s game and you saw that Sunday with the Brazil-USA game,” she said. “It is hard to predict an outcome because every team has showed they are very good, so it will be interesting to see who does end up coming out on top.”

Rafaelle also believes America’s deep run into the World Cup this summer will have a positive effect on women’s soccer in the U.S.

“Since the World Cup has been in the media, more people are paying attention to women’s soccer,” Rafaelle said. “And I think that people will see the amount of talent we do have and the excitement that comes with our games, and I hope that people will want to continue to see that excitement and will come out to our games.”

While Rafaelle was forced to watch Brazil get knocked out of this year’s World Cup on television, she hopes to be playing for Brazil in 2015 at the World Cup in Canada.

“My goal is to keep playing soccer after Ole Miss,” she said. “The ultimate goal is the World Cup in 2015. I would like to play soccer professionally. Most likely not in Brazil as it is not as well established as it is in other countries. If that doesn’t work out, then I will be more than happy with a career as a civil engineer.”