Felipe De Sousa's Breakout Season
April 6, 2021 - Major Arena Soccer League (MASL)
Dallas Sidekicks News Release
Felipe De Sousa of the Dallas Sidekicks
(Dallas Sidekicks)
(ALLEN, TEXAS) - The Dallas Sidekicks had a second-year player truly break out this past season, Luiz Felipe Marques De Sousa who goes by Felipe, tore up the MASL with an incredible sophomore professional indoor season. De Sousa's story is one of persistence and staying focused on one's goal and the payoff for both him and the team has been phenomenal.
For the 2019/2020 season, the rookie forward showed promise and was recognized by making the MASL All-Rookie Honorable Mention list. Felipe scored 8 goals and notched 2 assists in his inaugural campaign in the MASL in which he appeared in 22 games.
This past season De Sousa was second in the league with 17 goals, trailing Ian Bennett's 19 despite playing in four fewer games. The Brazilian scored in bunches this season including four hat-tricks and two games with two goals apiece. He scored the game winning goal in overtime against the Tacoma Stars on February 6th at the Allen Event Center before ripping off his shirt and celebrating with his teammates in front of a jubilant home crowd. He ranked in the MASL top ten in both total points (18) and points-per-game (2.0) this past season with his aggressive play also tying him for the league lead in penalty minutes.
De Sousa's grew up in Tampa, Florida, but he was born in Espirito Santo Vilha Velha, Brazil. He grew up playing soccer wherever he could in Brazil and then moved to the United States when he was a teenager. He played soccer in college, at Florida Gulf Coast University and the University of Tampa, along with playing on select clubs in Texas and Florida.
De Sousa has worked hard for years to get where he is today. He started practicing with the Sidekicks in the 2014-2015 season and has progressively been invited back for more practices with him attending the majority of all practices in the 2018-2019 season. His hard work has culminated into a professional contract last season and he couldn't been happier about it.
"I love the staff, I like the people around it, the players, I know a lot of them too. It was a lot of fun, it's been so easy for me to come here and just play and not worry about anything."
He has spent the majority of his career playing outdoor or the ever-popular futsal, but he has been practicing with the Sidekicks since 2014-2015 and he understands the nuances of the game.
"They [Sidekicks] made this so much easier to go from a big field to indoor. They made my job so much easier. I just fell in love with it, it's soccer either way it doesn't matter if it's a big field or a small field, it's just having a ball with me. It's always fun, especially when people make your job easy."
After such a jump in performance this last season the Sidekicks are thrilled to build around the forwards talents heading into the 2021/2022 season. De Sousa will surely get a lot of recognition for his contributions on the field this past season and the future is extremely bright for the Brazilian who has shown what dedication and hard work can do.
Images from this story
 Felipe De Sousa of the Dallas Sidekicks |
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