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High Ball: WG's Daniel Villafuerte, right, battles for the ball against Leland. Villafuerte scored the lone goal for the Rams in the 1-1 tie with the Chargers.
Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Flu, injuries plague Rams
By Dick Sparrer
There haven't been many players showing up for soccer practice at Willow Glen High, and it's enough to make a coach sick.
But Willow Glen boys soccer coach Sue Parisi has been having enough problems with illnesses that she doesn't need any more. And now she's hoping that winter break turns out to be just what the doctor ordered for her Rams.
The Rams have been bitten hard by the flu bug in recent weeks. They had just one sub on the sideline when the played Pioneer back before the Christmas break.
Then only 10 of 21 players were able to show up for practice after Christmas, and that's not a very good sign for a team that's off to a 2-5-2 start in the young season.
"Everything that could go wrong is going wrong for us," said Parisi. "We've had 10 people sick with this flu thing that's going around."
She's had it herself, so she knows just what her players are suffering through.
Add to that a couple of key injuries that have sidelined talented senior goalkeeper Christian Jimenez and solid junior defender Dustin Cohen, and the Rams are definitely the walking wounded of the Blossom Valley Athletic League's Mt. Hamilton Division.
The Rams limped off to an 0-1-1 start in division play when they tied Leland 1-1 and lost to Pioneer 2-0 in the first week of the league season.
Senior Daniel Villafuerte scored off an assist from junior Osbi Gonzales for Willow Glen's lone goal in the week, but that goal stood up for a tie against the Chargers.
The coach praised the work of Gonzales in the two league games.
Willow Glen will get back to league play before the school gets back in session from winter break. The Rams will visit Leigh on Jan. 2 and Prospect on Jan. 4 for a couple of 3:15 p.m. games.
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
