Sousa enters his seventh season as an assistant coach at UC Merced and has been a tremendous asset to head coach Albert Martins through the years. Extremely passionate, Sousa assists wherever he needs to and has been key in player development and helping with the Bobcats plan of attack. In 2020, Martins and Sousa were named the West Region Coaching Staff of the Year for the NAIA, as announced by the United Soccer Coaches Association.
Sousa, who has the pleasure of being on the sidelines with the winningest active coach in the California Pacific Conference, has coached the Bobcats to a pair of Cal Pac Tournament Championships, two regular season conference titles, four Cal Pac Championship games, five NAIA National Championship Opening Rounds and recently the NAIA National Championship Final Site. In 2018, UC Merced went unbeaten during Cal Pac play (10-0-1) and as of today stand as the only active team in the conference to win at least ten games and go unbeaten during the conference slate. Under his guidance, Sousa has seen his players win either Cal Pac Player of the Year, Cal Pac Defensive Player of the Year or Cal Pac Freshman of the Year five of his first six seasons. In the last three years, five men’s soccer players earned honorable mention All-American status (Ricky Rosas, Artemio Contreras, Marcus DeCouto, Marcos Ceballos and Juan Flores).
The Bobcats record since Sousa joined the sidelines in 2016 is 75-24-10 overall and 51-4-3 in conference play. The Bobcats have also finished either first or second in the standings in the seven years Sousa has been with the team.
On top of his duties with UC Merced, Sousa was named the head men's soccer coach at Merced College prior to the start of the 2021 season and coached his team to the Northern California Regionals in his first year. He has also served as the head coach of Academica SC of the National Premier Soccer League since 2018. A 2X Golden Gate Conference Coach of the Year and 2019 Western Region Coach of the Year, Sousa has taken Academica SC to the NPSL playoffs, the NorCal State Cup Final and his team finished in the countries Elite 16. The team also had a run in the US Open Cup for the first time ever with Sousa in charge. Sousa has signed multiple former Bobcats to his Academica SC roster, including honorable mention All-Amercian’s and all-time leading scorers Cody Golbad and Artemio Contreras among many others. Golbad has found unparalleled success in the NPSL as he has been a 2X National Player of the Week and was a National XI selection in 2018. Recently, Sousa added additional duties as he was named the Director of Coaching for Turlock Academica Jrs. Turlock Academica Jrs is the youth academy of Academica SC.
Sousa played college soccer at Stanislaus State during the 2008-09 season and 2010-11 season. He played for Modesto Junior College for a year in between his stints at Stanislaus State.
After playing college soccer Sousa went professional, signing with the Turlock Express of the Major Arena Soccer League. He played for the Express during the 2012-13, 2013-14, and 2015-16 seasons, recording a career-high five goals in his first season.
Sousa graduated from Stanislaus State in 2015 with a degree in Kinesiology and has recently completed a master’s degree in Recreation and Sports Sciences at Ohio University. He has also finished his coaching education through United Soccer Coaches and is certified by the National Academy of Sports Medicine as a Performance Enhancement Specialist. He is also working on progressing through the USSF route of coaching education.
Sousa recently relocated to Merced from Turlock and lives with his wife Brittany and dog Dinho, named after his favorite player Ronaldinho.
