University’s Rafael Guerra Guimaraes is Broward Boys’ Soccer Player of the Year for 4A-2A

Rafael Guerra Guimaraes didn’t just make hat tricks somewhat commonplace his senior season at NSU University: He turned in four-goal games with startling regularity.

The final numbers from Guerra Guimaraes’ final season in Davie were staggering: 35 goals, 20 assists, four hat tricks, three four-goal games and 10 multi-goal performances. He’s the Miami Herald’s Broward County Boys’ Soccer Player of the Year for Classes 4A-2A.

The Sharks also made it to the Class 3A championship, won 19 games and spent all year as one of the top-ranked teams in South Florida, according to MaxPreps.

“What made it so special is because last year our team was really weak and most of the team was juniors,” Guerra Guimaraes said. “This year, we knew we were going to be good and we just worked harder to be better.”

Guerra Guimaraes was in the middle of everything NSU University did. His 35 goals were the second most in the state and his 20 assists ranked in the top 15, too.

He had a hat trick in the Sharks’ rout of Jacksonville Bolles in the 3A semifinals and scored seven goals during NSU University’s postseason run.

Although the Sharks lost the 3A title game 0-0 on penalty kicks to Winter Park Trinity Prep last month, Guerra Guimaraes led one of the most high-powered offenses in the state, taking NSU University from a second-round exit in the 2022 region playoffs to a state championship appearance this year.

“As soon as last season was over,” Guerra Guimaraes said, “we knew we were going to be better.”

Guerra Guimares is originally from Brazil and moved to Florida in 2020, joining the Sharks for the last two years and living with former teammate Rafael Matiello, who was the Player of the Year for Classes 4A-2A last year.

Matiello skipped his senior year at NSU University to pursue a professional career in Italy and Guerra Guimares is still living with the Matiello family. The move has worked out splendidly, with Guerra Guimares piling up scholarship offers, including one on the day of the 3A semifinals after a North Florida coach watched the game and offered him on the spot.

“All it took was one game for somebody to watch him play and say, That kid’s different,” coach Thiago Oliveira said.

Even though the ending kept the Sharks from winning their second state title in four years, Guerra Guimaraes leaves behind a memorable resume in Broward.

“It was a pretty good legacy, but it could always be better,” he said. “It happens.”