After playing three years at Colorado State Pueblo, Caio Oliveira thought his collegiate soccer career was over. However, in December 2024, the NCAA announced that it would grant an additional year of eligibility to athletes who had previously competed at a non-NCAA school for one or more years.
The NCAA’s decision allowed Oliveira, who played two seasons of junior college soccer before transferring to Division II CSU Pueblo, to play an additional year in 2025.
“I got the call from coach [Oliver Twelvetrees] here at FGCU, so I took it on as a challenge,” Oliveira said. “We’ve done a lot of good things in Division II, so I wanted to come and try to see how well I can do in Division I.”
Once coach Twelvetrees was hired as the men’s soccer coach at FGCU from CSU Pueblo, Oliveira followed suit. Oliveira is one of four players who followed Twelvetrees to Fort Myers, the others being Jose Bustamante, Ignatius DeMark and Dylan Zavatini.
“When I came to visit the campus, it was just a great combination of being in an amazing place with people that I know and have a good connection together and that we can do good things,” Oliveira said.
Oliveira’s soccer journey began in his hometown of Espigão d’Oeste, Brazil. Oliveira arrived in the United States through an agency that recruits players with the opportunity to receive a college education and play soccer.
“My parents were always very big on ‘you have to get a degree, you have to go to college,’ and I wanted to play [soccer] so like, what if I combined both?” Oliveira said.
At CSU-Pueblo, Oliveira contributed 16 goals and 28 assists in 69 matches. He also earned numerous accolades, including All-Conference and All-Region honors in all three seasons and was named an All-American and the RMAC Offensive Player of the Year in 2024.
“It’s always nice to have the recognition … but it’s a team sport. You don’t do anything alone,” said Oliveira.
Now at FGCU, Oliveira is making his case as one of the top players in the ASUN Conference.
Oliveira received ASUN Player of the Week honors after scoring twice in the season opener against SIU Edwardsville. So far, the graduate student midfielder has racked up five goals in 13 appearances for the Eagles, including three assists and two game-winning goals.
With more than 80 matches and 6,000 minutes played over his collegiate career, Twelvetrees credits Oliveira’s feat to his work ethic and off-field professionalism.
“He does the right things. He eats well, he gets the recovery that’s needed, so he puts in the full effort to get the most out of his talent,” Twelvetrees said. “That’s what the people watching any of our athletes don’t see, it’s that commitment and the sacrifice that it takes to be the player at the top of your game. And he does just that.”
With non-conference matches in the rearview mirror, Oliveira and the Eagles currently sit at 4-6-3 and are preparing for the final stretch of the regular season.
“As a team, the goal is definitely to win the conference tournament,” Oliveira said. “The biggest goal for the season is to win the conference tournament and get to the first round of the NCAA tournament.”
