At Lasell University, soccer team intends to build something special

Lasell University has a soccer team with big goals.

This story is sponsored content, written by the Seamans Media Custom Content Studio

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Togetherness is one of the key attributes of the Lasell University men’s soccer team.

Head coach Luis Cabral is proud of what he calls the team’s exceptional on- and off-field chemistry. That attitude is helping point the team in the right direction on the field. It’s also one of the many things Cabral loves about coaching at Lasell.

Team culture is very important to Cabral. While he wants physical players who have technical skill, he also looks for candidates who are excited to play for Lasell, who get along well with teammates and coaches and who genuinely enjoy being a part of the community.

“A team can be very, very talented, but if team culture is bad,” he said, “even though they may succeed in terms of wins and losses, they’re not going to succeed in terms of the experience.”

“What they do in these four years on the pitch is a big part of how they’re going to turn out as a human being outside of the pitch and in their life,” he added. “I genuinely believe that a player who comes in with that attitude, with those goals in mind, is going to leave a better human being, a human being that has achieved something in life. That is precious. They are going to be successful emotionally, successful in business, successful in life.”

While every program wants to succeed on the field, Cabral said one of his goals is to be a mentor to his players and develop them to be quality individuals — in addition to quality soccer players.

He acknowledges soccer is important to the lives of his players, but he believes there are life lessons learned while at practice and in games, including how to deal with failure, deal with success, and share those moments with the people important to them. They are attributes he learned as a player that he hopes to pass on to his players.

“I’ve always felt like my contribution to these young men’s lives has not only just been about teaching them technical stuff or learning how to read the game, how to read the field. It’s also about becoming part of their lives,” Cabral said. “These are young men. These are adults. Their personality is going to be formed in these four years. My contribution is just that much more important because if I lead them in the wrong direction, I could really have a detrimental impact on their lives. To me, that’s a big, big responsibility that I want to make sure my contribution is a positive one that creates a template for them of how they’re going to run their lives.”

On the field, Cabral is bullish about the trajectory of his team. Lasell’s 100 percent player retention has helped grow the team to 30 players, including securing several top recruits.

Talent is another key attribute of the program. Recent proof of just how skilled the roster is came from graduate midfielder Mpumelelo Maphumulo, who finished fourth in the conference in goals and earned a spot on the 2024 Men’s Soccer All-GNAC First Team as well as a place on the All-Sportsmanship team.

Cabral said there is a lot to be excited about for the Lasell soccer program, and he’s excited to be a part of it.

“We’re a program on the rise,” he said. “The building blocks are there for lots of success for many years to come. If it were me going to college, that’s the place I’d want to be. I want to be there at the start. I want to be there at the beginning of the glory that’s to come.”

This story is sponsored content, written by the Seamans Media Custom Content Studio