MIAMI — Columbia men's soccer alumnus Dylan Castanheira '19CC signed a contract with Inter Miami CF of Major League Soccer, the club announced on Wednesday. Castanheira makes the jump to the First Team from the Club's USL League One team, Fort Lauderdale CF.
"I want to give a big thank you to everyone I worked with at Columbia, beginning with head coach Kevin Anderson, Ken Pollard, Luke Kelly, Michael Rodriguez, Eoghan O'Kelly, as well as all of my teammates from my time at Columbia" said Castanheira in an interview with Columbia Athletics. "I had the opportunity to graduate from an amazing university because of that staff and the support of everyone around me. I could never thank them enough. I also want to give a special thank you to Brent Walker at Columbia, who helped me tremendously."
Castanheira registered 11 appearances with Fort Lauderdale CF last season, all of them starts, and ranked fifth in USL League One with 44 saves, including the Save of the Week for weeks 2, 4, and 10. Castanheira joined First Team training sessions working alongside Inter Miami's goalkeepers for the final two months of the season.
"I had the opportunity to play a good amount of games last year," Castanheira added. "I showed well in those games and the combination of that and what I put in during practice made the organization comfortable. I have always been confident in my ability. If I put in the hard work, I knew I could get here one day, and I'm very happy the organization has given me an opportunity to do that."
Castanheira was named the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year and selected First Team All-Ivy as a senior at Columbia in 2018. He was also a Second Team Scholar All-American pick, the lone goalkeeper to earn the award. A Second Team All-Northeast Region honoree, Castanheira earned the Scholar All-Region Award, and was an Academic All-Ivy League pick.
"Dylan's dedication, commitment and focus to his development has been amongst the very best I've ever coached," Columbia head coach Kevin Anderson said. "It's especially evident in relationship to always supporting his team and trying to be the best version of himself that he can be. He now has an opportunity in front of him that he's earned to play in the biggest league in the United States and I couldn't be more excited to see what the next stage of his career looks like."
Castanheira is one of six Columbia alumni coached by Anderson and his staff that are currently playing professionally around the world — the other five are Arthur Bosua, David Najem, Haris Stamboulidis, Andrew Tinari and Rhys Williams.
"Columbia really prepared me for being disciplined with my time and being a student-athlete," Castanheira, a Landing, New Jersey native went on to say. "It set me up for success at the professional level by helping me learn to prioritize things and manage my time. I'll never be the kind of person that doesn't put in the work. Just being able to be disciplined at Columbia has helped me do the little things to help myself succeed."
His name can be found throughout the Ivy League and Columbia record books, as Castanheira broke the conference record for career goals against average at 0.513, while he owns the Columbia career record for career shutouts with 25. His senior year featured five shutouts –  all of those shutouts came in Columbia victories – and a 10-5-1 record in net, bringing his career tally to 33-10-4. A three-time All-Ivy League selection, Castanheira led the NCAA in goals against average (.290) and save percentage (.903) during his sophomore season, while finishing third with a 0.425 goals against average during his junior campaign.
Castanheira signed with Inter Miami CF through the 2021 Major League Soccer season, with club options for 2022 and 2023.
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