A native of Londrina, Brazil, Maciel quickly made his mark in his first foray in American soccer when he played at Quinnipiac College in 2001. The Twisters went 7-7 in the regular season before losing to the Rockford (Ill.) Rampage in the AISL championship. Rockford announced in September it would join the NISL, which also includes the Baltimore Blast, Philadelphia KiXX and Monterrey La Raza. The Twisters play in The Eastern States Coliseum — known locally as The Big E Coliseum — which opened in 1926 and seats 5,900 fans. West Springfield is a community of roughly 30,000, as of the 2000 census. Cities just outside of the West Springfield borders are Hartford CT, Springfield, Pittsfield and Boston. For tickets visit www.masstwisters.com or call 413-569-0088-413-304-2033 The Twisters will look to their AISL roster, as well as the New England MLS/USL franchises, for the bulk of their players. The Mass Twisters is a current Member Team of the National Indoor Soccer League. For more information on the NISL, log on to www.nislnet.com