THE KELVIN FACTOR

Just how many times have we read stories or press releases about a new player coming in a making an impact on a soccer team?

Probably way too many times.

Sometimes we have to wait games for the player to live up to his or her potential.

Sometimes we have to wait entire seasons before something really big happens.

And sometimes a player never performs up to expectations.

Then there's Kelvin Oliveira, who has been a force and a half for Utica City FC this young Major Arena Soccer League season.

In three games for his new indoor soccer team, the 29-year-old Brazilian has recorded hat-tricks in as many games.

In road games.

That has helped Utica City to a 2-0-1 start while accruing seven out of a possible 10 points entering its home opener on Sunday.

A pretty impressive beginning for any team or player.

When Utica City added Oliveira on March 21, team general manager Tommy Tanner said in a press release:

"Kelvin is one of the most exciting, talented, and technical players I have ever watched - I cannot wait for the fans in Utica to see him play! His understanding of the game, movement off the ball, and ability to finish is going to make him a star here."

Oliveira has lived up to that assessment and then some.

"Tommy found him and then I watched a couple of videos," Utica City head coach Hewerton Moreira said. "Obviously, I loved what I saw, playing Foot7, and some other type of tournaments.”

Foot7 is seven-a-side soccer. MASL uses six players a side.

"I knew that he would make a huge impact with us, just by the style of play,” Moreira added. “Every time that you have a player come with so much intensity. You know you’re going to be good.”

If the name is familiar, it should be. Oliveira tallied the game-winning goal for Newtown Pride FC in the very first The Soccer Tournament in Cary, N.C. in 2023, helping the Connecticut team win the winner-take-all $1 million prize in the seven-a-side competition. The 6-foot, 175-lb. attacker also was named tournament MVP. After signing with Utica, he wound up playing twice for Utica in last year's playoff series against the Kansas City Comets, scoring twice and assisting on another goal.

Now, Utica City hopes that Oliveira will have the team take its first MASL championship next spring.

"I mean, Kelvin is Kelvin," said Utica veteran forward Gordy Gorson, who knows something or two about scoring himself, having totaled 222 goals and 117 assists in 185 MASL matches over the past decade. "He's unreal. He's fun to watch. It's enjoyable. It's enjoyable to see him put Foot7 into an indoor style of play. I think once he's able to ride both styles, that he's literally just going to be unstoppable scoring five, six goals game."

Not exactly what opposing teams will want to hear.

Oliveira is far from an overnight sensation. He has won several national and international matches in and for his native Brazil. That included the 2021 Liga Fut7 champions (the most important national championship in Brazil) while earning best player in the tournament honors, and as a member of the Brazilian squad that captured the 2021 Fut7 World Cup, among other titles and honors.

Depending on your vantage point, Oliveira has become a fourth-quarter terror or hero, after only three MASL matches.

Let's take a look at what he has accomplished:

• Held to an assist in the season opener at the Empire Strykers on Friday, Dec. 13, the Brazilian struck three times over an 8:27 span in the final period to turn a 6-6 deadlock into a 9-6 Utica win.
• A day later at the San Diego Sockers' debut at FrontWave Arena on Saturday, Dec. 14, Oliveira scored with 6:35 remaining in regulation to force the contest in overtime. The Sockers won on Luiz Morales' goal in the extra session, 6-5.
• And then on Saturday, Dec. 21 at the Harrisburg Heat, he did it again in the fourth period. After connecting for the equalizer, Oliveira produced the game-winner with 29 seconds remaining in regulation to lift Utica City to a 7-6 triumph.

Nine goals (and one assist) and 10 points, good enough to lead the league entering this weekend's action. He was player of the week the first week of the season. And, he earned first, second and first stars of those respective games.

"If we have Kelvin on our team, we could win any game," Gurson said.

Asked if there was a memorable goal by Oliveira, Moreira replied said it was the equalizer, a free kick against Harrisburg. Oliveira powered a free kick from the yellow line, on a misdirection play, into the left corner past goalkeeper Hugo Silva to knot things up at 6-6 at 3:21 of the fourth quarter.

"He was able to just place the ball," he said. "It was a great goal to tie the game and give us the ability to finish the game stronger, to try to win without overtime."

Which Utica did.

The rest of the indoor soccer world has watched Oliveira's brilliance and remarkable skill in close quarters.

As his teammates have learned, however, he hasn't taken anything for granted behind the scenes.

"He's a true professional," Gurson said. "It's just someone you want on your team. He's early to training. He stretches, he gets his own warm up in. He gets himself focused and ready for every session. He treats every day like it's game day. It's awesome to see, because it rubs off on the other guys as well."

And oh yeah, before we forget, there is another dimension to Oliveira's game: defense.

"Kelvin is not only an amazing player offensively, but his intensity to defend, his awareness of the field," Moreira said. "It's great. It’s contagious as well, because such a talented player like him can defend the way he does. Other players get inspired to do the same. It's a whole package in terms of what indoor soccer players should have."

Invariably, teams should be able find ways out how to stop or limit Oliveira, but Moreira wasn't so sure.

"That's what I'm saying about a player of his caliber," he said. "He is very smart and he's smart enough to free himself to continue to be impactful. But if teams try to just double him or triple him, they will free up another weapon that we have."

Such as the likes of Keaton Woods, Vini Dantas, Ronaldinho Diniz, Sergio Pinal and Isaak Somow and Gurson, among other potential Utica goal-scorers.

Utica City FC fans will have the opportunity to see what magic Oliveira can produce live and in person at the Adirondack Bank Center on Sunday, Dec. 29 at 3:05 p.m. ET (MASLtv). The arena has been spruced up with a 360-degree digital dasher board system where LED panels that have been embedded in the dasher boards around the entire field.

"We're stoked. We're so excited for this," Gurson said. "This is a date that came out before the schedule. They already announced the home openers first. Every time we're out and about, we see fans. They're like, 'Oh my God, we can't wait till you guys get started.' This is it. It's finally here."

For the first three games, Utica has done its best in making life miserable for the hosts in their home openers.

"We enjoy the home openers, and we enjoy spoiling moments for other teams," Gurson said. "That's something we've always thrived on. I thought we did a good job coming out 2-0-1. Now we're ready to have our own home opener."

Utica's goal is like any other MASL team: Earn a high seed in the playoffs and vie for the Holy Grail of indoor soccer - the Ron Newman Cup. Moreira would prefer one of the top four seeds.

"We're just here to win games and get ourselves the highest seed possible going into the playoffs," Gurson said. "We're trying to get a home game this year in the playoffs, which would be in the final.

"Like I said: With Kelvin, anything's possible."

Michael Lewis can be found on X (formerly Twitter) and Bluesky at @Soccerwriter.