Matheus Braga walks around campus in a hoodie, trying not to break a sweat.

"It's November," he says through his noticeably thick accent. "I thought it was supposed to get chilly here around now."

The unusually warm temperature outside -- 65 degrees -- is the only familiar encounter Braga has experienced thus far in State College.

As the clock winds down on the Penn State men's soccer team's season, the junior midfielder has come full circle after traveling over 4,000 miles and leaving behind countless friends and family members.

Braga is unlike most of his teammates. Yes, he leads the team in assists with four, and yes, he's second in shots with 36, all despite missing five games. But making his body of work all the more impressive is the simple fact that he is in his first season with the Nittany Lions after coming over from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

That's where Penn State coach Barry Gorman spotted him in a showcase in front of American scouts. Braga impressed, and was soon invited to one of Penn State's summer soccer camps in 2006. From then on, he knew where he wanted to be.

"When I saw this university, this stadium, Beaver Stadium, Jeffrey Field, I was really in love with this university," he said. "I never like had in my mind to go to another university besides here.

"I just decided to come here and just living this dream right now, getting a degree and playing soccer. It's beautiful."

But Braga's trek to soccer stardom was developed through a different, albeit very similar, sport -- futsol.

It's like American soccer, but with a twist.

Each team has five players -- including a goalkeeper -- on the condensed field, and the smaller ball does not bounce.

Matheus' father, Ribot, played the game professionally in Brazil and got his son into it when he was four years old.

For about five years, Braga played the same sport that helped hone the skills of nationally recognized footballers such as Ronaldinho and Ronaldo.

"All the soccer that I learned from that time was because of this kind of soccer," he said. "It's just like good to improve your skills."

Lion teammate Vincent Salvatico believes the team benefits from having a player with such a background in their sport.

"I know [Brazilians] have a lot more flair and dribbling and that's kind of benefited us in the sense that we get to see a different style and kind of prepare for the more technical aspect of it," the junior forward said.

Such tactics eventually earned Braga a spot on the under-17 Rio de Janeiro team, something he accredits to his success with the Barra da Tijuca Futebol Clube.

"They were just incredible," he said of his teammates on the regional squad. "There's no comparison between me and them."

Despite all of his success back home, nothing could prepare him for the transition to the States.

When he first settled into Happy Valley in January, he encountered his first real obstacle: A language barrier.

Braga spoke little-to-no English upon his arrival to America. But alone, in unfamiliar surroundings covered in foreign precipitation, the Brazilian tackled his initial problem as if it were a striker heading for the net.

"I got this class in first semester called like English 015, I think?" he said. "This class helped me a lot, too, because I could like write in English all the time and talk to my professor."

That class, which most Penn State students are all-too-familiar with, coupled with the daily interaction between coaches and teammates in the spring season, helped break down the boundary for Braga.

"To be honest, when you're talking about soccer it's no different," he said. "Soccer is just a universal language."

But as the fall season arrived and expectations mounted, Braga was met with a string of difficulties.

He was forced to miss four games because of a blister that eventually became a staph infection. In just his fourth game back from the injury, he was dealt another blow.

His spit inadvertently landed on a Wisconsin player in the second half of the Lions' contest with the Badgers, and Braga was given a red card, forcing him to miss the team's next game against then-No. 2 Akron.

"I called my dad and was like, 'Dad, I'm so sad I'm not playing because I got this infection!' and he was like, 'Well, you're practicing, you're playing,' and gave me traditional sayings, like 'If you're in the rain you have to be wet,' " Braga said.

"I couldn't do anything. It wasn't my choice to be hurt."

However, Braga has taken it all in stride. He shares a house with five teammates and, in less than a year, he says he considers them and the rest of his teammates to be his "second family."

This new family has helped ease the transition between countries for the 21-year-old. In fact, come winter break, two of Braga's teammates will have to deal with a transition of their own, albeit a much smaller challenge.

Two of Braga's roommates, Drew Cost and Matt Smallwood, will be spending New Year's Eve in Brazil with him.

Braga came up with the idea after visiting them in Cost's hometown, West Chester, Pa., over the summer.

In a month, the two will return the favor as they look forward to playing soccer on the beach and learning about the culture of their new teammate.

"It's great. He's an awesome kid," Cost said. "We can't wait. He invited us down and we just can't wait. It'll be a great time and we're actually gonna go down and see him and Diego [Correa, also from Rio de Janeiro], and they're just some of the nicest kids we've ever met and they're gracious to bring us in for 10 days."

That graciousness can even be seen on game days. While his teammates often react to unfavorable calls, Braga never loses his cool, as he's seemingly the most composed player out on the field game after game.

That's why his red card came as such a shock to him and his teammates. It's also why Frank Costigliola feels he's able to bring so much to the table in his first season with the team despite going scoreless.

"Every player has their way of stepping up or trying to step up," the junior midfielder, a recipient of six yellow cards and one red card this season, said. "He might not express it through talking or whatever, but you can just tell that he works very hard and tries to get people into the game by just passing and stuff.

"Some people tick in different ways. It's not really a big deal to have a mesh or group like that. It helps."

But for someone who's become so immersed in his new setting, it's easy to lose track of what he's left behind.

"It's just the difference of culture," Braga said. "All my friends back home and my friends here, my teammates there, like I don't know. There's no difference really. It's just the difference of culture."