There's a good reason
Ricardo Ferreira chose to play soccer. It's in his DNA.
"I basically grew up with soccer," Ricardo, the leading scorer on the Winthrop soccer team, said after a recent morning practice. "My father played professional at the First Division in Portugal. Now he coaches a Second Division team. My parents have videos of my brother (twin brother Rodrigo) and me kicking the soccer ball when we were one or two years old."
The brothers grew up in in Espinho, a small seaside town of 3,700 in Portugal, that's best known as the country's beach volleyball capital. Ricardo said you can walk from one side of the city to the other is about 20 minutes.
And though he enjoys a game of beach volleyball during the summer, it was soccer that he felt would eventually get him an offer to, along with his Rodrigo, play at the collegiate level. That's when Mid-American Christian University, a small NAIA school in Oklahoma City, Okla., with a storied soccer program came into the picture.
"Our goal always was to play Division I soccer, "Ferreira said. "And we agreed to go to an NAIA school the first two years. We had some DI offers, but then COVID hit Portugal hard and things got messed up. "We thought Mid-American was the best option to develop because everything is different here. The game is more physical. So playing there for two years was very positive."
Ricardo had little if no problems adapting to the American game. He scored 19 goals in his two years, earning first team All-Conference honors in 2022 and 2023, plus being named NAIA honorable mention.
That's when he and Rodrigo were contacted by Winthrop.
"I had actually seen him play in 2019 in Lisbon," Winthrop men's soccer coach
Daniel Ridenhour recalled. "Then we heard about him (when he was at Mid-American)."
The brothers arrived in Rock Hill in August of this year and immediately made their mark on the Winthrop program and immediately made their mark. Through Winthrop's first 13 games, Ricardo has scored six goals which ties him with Braiden Hall of USC Upstate for the Big South Conference lead. His three game-winning goals has him tied Presbyterian's Carson Griffith.
Ricardo also shared Big South Conference Player of the Week honors with Gardner-Webb's Santiago Hoyas after a two-goal performance in a win over former conference rival Coastal Carolina. The honor was the first for a Winthrop player since
Bryant Jimenez-Pearce in 2021.
He appears to be a shoo-in for post-season All-Conference honors, but that's not even something he's even thinking about. That's the kind of kid he is according to Ridenhour, who said Ricardo will be a success know matter what path he takes in life.
"Individual goals are nice, but to me the most important thing is the team winning the conference," Ricardo said. "And we have a chance at that. Then we can start thinking about the tournament. We need to take it one game at a time." Â
The Eagles (3-0-2 in the BSC) face a must win against UNC Asheville (2-2-1) on Saturday (Oct. 28) in the home season Senior Day finale. A win would then set up a winner take all match at league-leading High Point 5-0-1) on Nov 1.
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Ricardo credits playing alongside his brother for his soccer success and helping him adapt to America.
"We've always played together," the business administration/sports management major said. "He knows how I like to play, my moves and everything. We just have always connected on the field."
It seems like they're always on the field. Ricardo, who has started every game so far, leads the team so far with 987 minutes. Rodrigo has 929.
And that's the way they like it.
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