ESPN RISE

Just before entering a game, Framingham center midfielder Erick Nader clutches a necklace his paternal grandmother gave him. According to Nader, the ritual gives him luck, protection and confidence.

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Laura Barisonzi

Erick Nader was an NSCAA/adidas Region I All-American and the Bay State league MVP.

"I just pray on it a little bit and think about positive things and winning the game," Nader says. "And it helps me out every time."

The way Nader plays, opponents should think about getting some jewelry of their own.

Nader, a senior, is the engine that drives the Framingham boys' soccer team. Last season, he led the Flyers to a 20-2-2 record, a Bay State League title and a Division 1 state finals appearance. He scored 12 goals and added seven assists to earn the league MVP award, Boston Globe All-Scholastic recognition and NSCAA/adidas All-New England honors.

But those numbers and accolades hardly do justice to a player who sparked one of the state's most prolific offensive attacks. They don't take into account the assist before the assist, or the countless times Nader rushed back to help on defense, or the way he stood out as the leader of a young team.

Throughout much of the season, according to Framingham coach Dan Avery, Nader simply dominated.

"He was Bobby Orr-like out there," Avery says. "He's fun to watch."

More playmaker than goal scorer, Nader loves challenging defenders one-on-one. But he typically eschews the glory of the last touch, preferring to dish the ball to one of his talented teammates for the shot. Though that mentality took some time for Nader to develop.

Nader honed his game on the streets of Minas Gerais in southeastern Brazil, where he lived between the ages of 2 and 11, playing with his older brother, Lucas, now 19, and his brother's friends.

"Every day after school I used to play," Nader says. "I just got a ball and that was my fun, you know -- my everyday fun."

Playing with the older kids helped Nader develop the skills and toughness he needed to thrive against bigger opponents. Still slight today at 5-foot-9 and 145 pounds, Nader was even more diminutive when he entered high school.

He started off on JV as a freshman before getting called up to varsity for the playoffs. Avery subverted the individual attacking style Nader developed in Minas Gerais by shifting the promising young player to the midfield. For Nader, who had grown up playing almost exclusively forward, it was an adjustment.

"I think that was the biggest challenge for me," he says. "Now I had to run back. It's a lot more running -- you've got to have more endurance. It just took a long time to get used to it."

There were adjustments to be made off the field, too. Nader got physically bigger as a sophomore and junior, but his most important growth came in the maturity department as he learned to harness his emotions and competitive drive.

"You have to know how to control it," Avery says. "Sophomore year, a lot of times it controlled him. Last year, he controlled it."

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Laura Barisonzi

Nader led Framingham to the state finals in 2007.

Though he played on the varsity as a sophomore, it wasn't until last fall that Nader really began to stand out on the pitch. But stand out he did. The Flyers stormed through the regular season at 15-1-2 to capture the title in the brutally competitive Bay State League.

Avery says Nader's best game came in a 4-1 win against a strong Marlborough team last October. Nader scored two goals, including a beauty of a free kick from the top of the 18.

The dominating performance was especially impressive considering the extent to which opponents began game-planning for Nader as the season wore on.

"As he progressed, teams didn't allow us to get him into isolated one-on-ones," Avery says.

"I just took that as a compliment," Nader adds. "Whenever I had double-teams, I just felt like I had to play better. It helped me get more confident and believe in myself."

For Nader, the highlight of the season was the Division 1 North semifinal against Lexington. Framingham fell behind, 1-0, before mounting a late two-goal comeback that ended with Nader deftly feeding the ball to current junior Gustavo Santos, who tallied the winning strike with just seven minutes left to play.

In the state championship against St. John's Shrewsbury, the two teams played to a scoreless tie through regulation and two overtimes. Nader converted his penalty kick in the ensuing shootout, but the Flyers were outscored, 3-2, giving St. John's the crown.

Making another deep run won't be easy, but the Flyers have high hopes for this season. Along with Nader and Santos, Framingham returns junior Marlon Ramalho, seniors Ronaldo Vieira, John Goncalves and Ryan Pennie and 12 other upperclassmen.

"Everybody knows everybody really well," Nader says. "We put the ball on the ground, we pass very well and every time we get the ball we're very calm and just end up scoring goals."

In many ways, Nader's preparation for his senior season was atypical. Most elite soccer players attend camps or play on select club teams. "I can't really do that because I have to work to help my family," Nader says.

But when he wasn't painting houses five or six days a week to support his household --which includes his mother, his maternal grandmother and two brothers -- Nader participated in an adult league.

By playing against men in their 20s and 30s, many of whom sought to challenge the newly minted high school stud, Nader got better at handling both the physical and mental challenges the game can present.

"They always want to get to me, get into my head," he says. "I learn a lot from that."

As a result, Nader expects an even better season than he had last year. That's a scary proposition for the state's other top teams. In the interest of fairness, maybe Nader should say a little prayer for his opponents before he checks in.

Lucas O'Neill covers high school sports for ESPNRISE.com.