Fighting to the Finish: Willow Glen's Osby Gonzalez (10) battles for the soccer ball in CCS playoff action against Mitty.




Photograph by Douglas Rider







It's close, but Rams fall in playoffs

Presentation advances to CCS semifinals

By Dick Sparrer

It was close. But in the competitive sport of soccer, close just isn't good enough, as the Willow Glen boys team found out last week in the first round of the Central Coast Section Division II playoffs.

The Rams played Mitty tough, but lost 3-1 on penalty kicks after playing through four scoreless periods of soccer.

"It was a great game," said Willow Glen coach Sue Parisi. "We should have won--we dominated the game. Our boys were just exhausted."

And understandably so. The Rams, with just 13 players in the field and one goalkeeper, fought through the two regulation halves and two overtime periods before the decision was ultimately decided on penalty kicks.

"Our guys gave 100 percent for a 110 minutes," said Parisi after the loss. "It was a very physical game, but neither team was playing dirty. It was just a well-played soccer game."

Junior Jairo Arreola knocked in a penalty kick to match Mitty and get Willow Glen off to a good start in the deciding round of kicks following overtime. But a WG miss and two goals by the Monarchs brought the game to an end.

"He played the game of his life," said Parisi of Arreola, who moved up from his midfield position to play forward against Mitty. "He had three shots in the first 10 minutes that were right there. He was right on the whole day."

The Willow Glen coach also had words of praise for her goalkeeper, junior Sal Palacio.

"He had some great saves," she said. "There were so many close ones."

Parisi considers Palacio to be among the best 'keepers in the section. He notched 10 shutouts this season and allowed just 13 goals in 21 games.

The Rams finished the year with a 9-8-4 record overall and finished fourth in the Mt. Hamilton Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League.

"We went from last to fourth, and we played some really tough teams," said the coach. "I'm extremely proud of my team."

Seniors playing their final game for Willow Glen were Enrique Arreola, Dustin Cohen, Osby Gonzalez, Zack Loya, Salvador Rios and Saul Villatoro. Senior Alberto Robles had to sit out the CCS game because of ankle sprain suffered a week earlier against Overfelt.

Joining J. Arreola and Palacio on the list of talented returners for the Rams next year will be juniors Craig Baker, Gilbert Lozoya, Trong Nguyen and Kyle Smith and sophomores John Gibilisco and Nathan Tom.

Not returning for the Rams next season, though, will be Parisi... at least, not as the head coach. Parisi admits that she may still be involved in the background somehow, but taking over as head coach will be varsity assistant Frankie Cisneros. Frosh-soph coach Juan Torres may also join the varsity staff next season.

Panthers win

Single goals by sophomore Amanda Brandt and senior Jennifer Tuttle lifted the Presentation girls soccer team to a 2-0 win over Palo Alto in the first round of the CCS Division II playoffs.

Brandt's first-half goal gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead at intermission, and Tuttle added an insurance goal in the second half.

The win pushes the Panthers, 11-4-6 for the year, into the CCS semifinals against Notre Dame-Belmont (24-1-3) on Feb. 21, 4:30 p.m., at Wilcox. The girls from Belmont, seeded No. 2 in the division, opened the playoffs with a rousing 6-0 win over Cupertino last Saturday. Presentation is the No. 6 seed.

The Presentation-Notre Dame winner on Thursday will move on to the CCS Division II championship game on Saturday, 10 a.m., at Valley Christian against the Harbor (12-0-3)-Mitty (13-4-3) winner.

Rams at CCS

Mike Jaramillo and Steve Lopez will lead a contingent of eight Willow Glen wrestlers to the CCS finals, set for Feb. 22-23 at Independence High School in East San Jose.

Jaramillo, a senior, won a BVAL title at 142 pounds for the Rams at the league meet back on Feb. 9, and Lopez, a junior, was a champion at 147 pounds.

Joining the two on the trip to CCS will be Adrian Morales, second at 173; Amir Faraj-Perry, third at 217; Reuben Rodriguez, fourth at 127; Richard Salaz, fifth at 162; Sam Olivas, seventh at 114; and Daniel Cousino, seventh at 154.

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