Photo by Casey Lee, The Daily Campus SMU junior forward Paulo da Silva has eight points (three goals, two assists) after returning from surgery and injuries. da Silva has helped SMU vault in the national rankings with his play on both sides of the ball.

If you were to tell any soccer player going into a season that they would have three goals and two assists in the first four games of the season, they would be ecstatic.

If you then tell that same player that they would accomplish all of that while playing college soccer for a major university against some of the tops teams in the nation, it would be a dream come true.

Finally, if you also tell that same player that they would do all of that after being plagued by injuries for two years and they would be having to come back from surgery to repair a sports hernia on their groin they would not believe you.

That is the scenario that SMU forward Paulo da Silva is living right now. His last two years have been tough to handle. He has battled through nagging injuries and eventually was forced to undergo surgery.

In the past week, da Silva has scored two goals and been named conference player of the week for the first time in his career. He also earned a spot on the topdrawersoccer.com National Team of the Week.

da Silva’s play also helped boost his team. The Mustangs have traveled to Virginia where they beat Old Dominion and the University of Virginia. They then went to California and defeated Stanford, then battled to a tie in a very physical game against Cal.

The Mustangs have been climbing the national rankings at a steady rate as well. They started the season ranked 18 by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NCSAA). After their wins against Old Dominion and Virginia the Mustangs jumped all the way to No. 7 in the country.

SMU took their new ranking out to California and tested it against some of the top teams in the country. After defeating Stanford and tying Cal, the Mustangs once again moved up the NCSAA rankings all the way up to No. 4 in the nation.

Last year da Silva has had to battle a painful sports hernia injury. His initial plan was to rehab the injury and hope that rest would allow him to play. Finally da Silva decided it was time for surgery.

“The only option was surgery” said da Silva, “you know your body, you try to take it easy and rest but I knew I needed surgery.”

After the operation, da Silva had to rehab in hopes of getting back on the field.

“I was always thinking positive, always said I would do it and it would be worth it,” he said.

Looking back on the rehab now he has a different view of things.

“[It] made me stronger, it wasn’t hard because I had my family behind me,” he said.

Family is a recurring theme for da Silva. When he talks about the injury, he makes sure people know what helped him the most.

“I wouldn’t be doing this with out family and friends always helping me,” he said

Even with his positive outlook, da Silva admits it was hard. “It was very frustrating. It took a long time to recover. Every time I took a kick, or ran I would feel pain; I wondered when it would be over.”

During his rehab da Silva was dealt another blow, his roommate and best friend Bruno Guard departed for the MLS just weeks before pre-season started. da Silva talked about how difficult it was for him to deal with losing his close friend.

“I have played with him since I was very young, around 5, we grew up together, we have always done everything together.”

da Silva was healthy enough this spring to get back into some games. Then when the season rolled around, he was ready to play.

It didn’t take him long to get involved in the action this season. da Silva recorded an assist on a goal by Manuel Mariel in his first game. In the next game he scored a goal of his own against Virginia to help the Mustangs secure the tournament victory.

When asked about the goal, head coach Tim McClements said, “the guys were very happy for Paulo. They celebrated for a long time with him [and] were actually celebrating so much that we lost our focus for just a second and allowed a goal.”

While all the talk about da Silva has been about his offensive ability, he has made improvements on the other side of the ball as well.

“Paulo is a finisher. Anytime you have someone of his ability it helps,” McClements said. “But his, and the teams, biggest improvement has been defensively.”

As for da Silva, he is just happy to be playing again. “[It] feels great, I have been waiting since I got hurt to play again.”

da Silva also likes the outlook for the team, “We are going to be great, we play together, we have faith in each other.”

Many people, including da Silva, are worried that it is too soon to praise his return from injury. He has only played in four games this season and has yet to play in a game at home. But, when you look at his history and what he and the team are doing now, it is hard not to take note this Brazilian.