Oliveira, Bonilla put it on goal

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Oliveira, Bonilla put it on goal

Sports

Wednesday, 04 April 2012 12:52

News-Gazette Photo/Andrew Sullivan

Gateway’s Felipe Oliveira (10) scored all of Gateway’s goals in the regional playoffs.

Gateway’s Felipe Oliveira is multi-dimensional player

By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor
It’s hard to tell whether Felipe Oliveira could have helped the Gateway Panthers be even more successful during the boys soccer season.
The Panthers senior scored 31 goals and was virtually unstoppable in the playoffs, when he scored all eight of the team’s goals from the district semifinal round on.

He missed several games, including late in the regular season, when a muscle pull sidelined him during several crucial district contests.
As it was, the Panthers reached the Class 5A-2 regional semifinal round where Oliveira’s eighth playoff goal wasn’t enough during a 2-1 loss to St. Lucie Centennial.
The fact that the Panthers escaped difficult district 5A-5, loaded with strong Orange County programs, was significant.
“Nobody thought that we could get out of that district,” he said. “There are a lot of good teams like Ocoee and Olympia there.”
Oliveira, the Osceola News-Gazette Boys Soccer Player of the Year with Osceola’s Maikel Bonilla, helped the Panthers enjoy one of the best seasons.
The Panthers finished 15-6-2 under Coach Oswald Attin, thanks to a group of seniors, like Oliveira, who played together since they were freshmen.
Benabe Serrano, Camillo Espitia, Diego Alejos and Sandro Salzar all made huge contributions over their careers.
“They have shown remarkable improvements,” Attin said. “Whatever colleges they go to, they will exceed expectations.”
Oliveira moved to Kissimmee from Brazil in the eighth grade.
“I’ve learned two languages, English and Spanish, since I’ve been here,” he said.
Brazil’s native language is Portuguese.
Strangely, coming from a nation that boasts more World Cup championships than any other, Oliveira had to learn how to play 11-man soccer after coming to the U.S.
“Actually, when I came here, I was an indoor player,” he said. “Indoor is very popular in Brazil, especially on the youth teams.”
Oliveira said one benefit of playing indoors is that it sharpens scoring skills, something that benefitted the Panthers over the past few seasons.
“In indoor soccer you score a lot more goals. It helps you because there are more scoring opportunities, so you learn how to score from every angle,” he said.
Oliveira said much of the credit for his goals goes to his teammates, like Salazar, a midfielder.
“We had good chemistry from playing together so long,” Oliveira said. “He looks for me.”
Attin said Oliveira has been a great asset to his soccer program.
“Felipe is a very humble gentleman off the field. He lets his talent speak for itself,” Attin said.
Oliveira played club ball with several of the soccer players from the Orange County schools. His team, Florida Rush, is from Ocoee.
“It helped in the district games that I knew some of the players,” he said.
Osceola High Coach Tom Bell said Oliveira and his teammates were the class of Osceola County this season. Gateway beat OHS, 7-3, during the regular season to clinch the Orange Belt Conference championship.
“They had three or four guys who we really couldn’t keep up with,” Bell said. “They had a real good team.”
Oliveira kicked for the Gateway football team and he ran cross country, but this year he concentrated on soccer.
“I’d like to play in college,” he said.