On pace to shatter program records, João Faria is a soccer superstar at Rockland High
ROCKLAND – In order to reach his sky-high aspirations, João Faria of Rockland High grew up emulating one of pro soccer's brightest stars.
“I grew up watching Neymar," Faria said. "He's my idol."
It wasn't a surprising choice, given that Faria moved to Rockland from Brazil – Neymar's home country – in 2016, when he was 10 years old. Now a junior in high school, he's doing to South Shore boys soccer teams what Neymar has done to international clubs year after year.
Not only that, but you could argue that Faria's outburst over the past two seasons elevates him into a class of his own.
In 21 games as a sophomore last fall, Faria led the South Shore League with 29 goals -- one short of the Rockland High single-season record of 30, set by Joe Kimball (brother of current Bulldogs coach Dan Kimball) in 2015.
How's he doing this year, you ask? Well, Faria already has 19 goals to his credit ... in just 10 games played (8-1-1).
“He’s the most unselfish player, too," Dan Kimball remarked. "He could have doubled his goal total already but he's just extremely unselfish."
His elusive first step and controlled, refined handle unlocks a shifty misdirection as Faria probes the middle of the field, allowing him to boot shot attempts with power off his left foot. The striker has scored in all but two of Rockland's 10 games, netting five hat tricks.
The Bulldogs' 8-1-1 start has paved the way toward what will be yet another trip to the Div. 4 state tournament; it will be the program's eighth postseason appearance since 2012. Last season, Rockland lost to the eventual Div. 4 state champions, second-seeded Easthampton, in the Final Four by a narrow 3-2 final as the bracket's No. 3 seed.
One goal shy of the scoring record and one game away from the title game, the Enterprise All-Scholastic and EMSCA (Eastern Massachusetts Soccer Coaches Association) All-Star was inching towards new heights both personally and collectively last fall.
“I was kind of pissed, to be honest. One away, you know?” chuckled Faria. “I want to try to beat that record this season. Hopefully I can do that, but my main goal is to win the state.”
To put Faria's start to the 2022 season into perspective: his debut on the varsity stage came at the start of his freshman season, when COVID-19 trimmed Rockland's schedule down to nine games, exclusively against South Shore League opponents. Kimball said "he didn't score many goals, but you could tell he had the stuff" at the time.
Fast-forward to this year and he has 19 goals through almost the same amount of matches. That's quite the two-year transformation. And now, Kimball ranks Faria as the best player in program history.
"Joe (Kimball), I would say, is second but it's really not close. João is just that much better than him," Dan Kimball said. "Joe was able to score because he was just stronger, faster, a little bit bigger but he didn't possess nearly the skill that João has.
"We've had some really talented players in the program," added Dan Kimball, who also also acknowledged alums Jake Crawford (Class of 2016), Darcy Guimaraes (2016), Lucas Goncalves (2016) Liam Lenihan (2017) and Kyle Lenihan (2020). "But (Faria) is just special. He's just a really, really talented kid."
Faria scored five goals in Rockland's second game of the season, an 8-3 win over Cardinal Spellman on Sept. 8. He proceeded to net a hat trick in four of the ensuing six games.
At this point, is there anything he could do to surprise his coach?
“No. I mean, I don’t know," Dan Kimball chuckled as he second-guessed himself, thinking of the possibilities. "He’s a bag full of tricks."
Dan Kimball first heard Faria's name when the future star first came to Rockland in fifth grade; a middle school teacher mentioned it to give the coach an early heads-up of what could come. When Faria first came to a high school practice in eighth grade, Kimball recalled the striker's talent was clearly evident and that he "was amazed by the level of skill he possessed."
“When I first moved from Brazil, this is the town that basically made me feel like home. I love the people at the school, they make me feel like family," Faria said of Rockland. "The community, they’ve always been nice to me. I’m grateful I chose this place to live.”
He added that his family's move was in pursuit of a "better life" and "more opportunities."
Faria became attached with the game at a young age, when his father bought him his first ball and later taught him how to play competitively, roughly at the age of seven or eight years old. “That’s basically all we do there: play pick-up in the streets. He put me on the team and saw I was talented," Faria said of his father's influence. "I stood out over there and that’s what made me fall in love with the game.”
Nowadays, he plays year-round with his club team, the Boston Bolts; he won a national championship with them to his sophomore campaign at Rockland.
In terms of the future, Kimball says a Division 1 college program is a "legitimate possibility" for Faria but there are various other academy options overseas and elsewhere that could be worth a look as well.
Rockland, bracing for another postseason appearance, plays seven of its remaining nine regular-season games at home against league opponents such as Norwell (Oct. 6, 4 p.m.), Abington (Oct. 11, 4 p.m.) and Cohasset (Oct. 17, 4 p.m.). There's also a road trip to Hull (Oct. 19, 4 p.m.).
“When the season ended, I continued to work hard for my club team and I also had a great season over there," Faria said of his preparation for this Rockland camp. "I came back hungry for the state championship.”
This article originally appeared on The Enterprise: Rockland High's João Faria is one of the brightest soccer stars around
