Boys soccer: Willowbrook takes its shots in victory against Montini

Miguel Correa's message to his teammates is pretty simple.

"I tell them if they have a shot, to take the shot," he said. "In our other games we didn't take a lot of shots, but today we did and I think that's why we played well. When we had really good chances we scored, and even on the ones that weren't as good they were the kind of chances we need to take."

Aaron Guallpa, Enrique DeLeon, Steven Cerda and Correa were all rewarded for taking a chance. They spread the wealth with each of the four scoring in Willowbrook's 4-0 nonconference victory over visiting Montini.

"I think that sometimes players don't feel as confident with themselves, especially early in the season," Correa said. "So it takes awhile. We worked a lot on shooting in practice this week and I think it showed and results came in like we wanted."

Guallpa scored first while Correa delivered on a set play to give the Warriors a 2-0 lead heading into halftime.

"I just backed out after I saw what the defenders were doing," Correa said. "I got on the top of the box, got the ball off the corner and looked to see what the goalie was doing and then got it in the top 90 so that was good."

Willowbrook (3-4) is still trying to figure things out personnel-wise as the injury bug has proved devastating, knocking out three of its top players and forcing first-year coach Eddie DeLaCruz to move some guys around.

"We started out well at 2-0 and then we went on a four-game losing streak while losing three starters," he said. "When you lose guys like that it's tough so this was a nice win for us, a good confidence builder."

It's the kind of win the Warriors hope will provide momentum as they head into the busy conference schedule while breaking their losing streak in the process.

"We know what we're going to face in conference and everyone is going to be flying and ridiculously good," DeLaCruz said. "We know we can create some chances and score some goals, but at times it doesn't always happen. In the Addison Trail tournament we had only two goals in four games. That's not going to get it done so to break out a bit today was nice."

It also helps when your back line is tough and Cerda and Tomas Hernandez shut down the Broncos (3-5) all morning.

"Those two center backs have been starting since sophomore year so they know how to get it done," DeLaCruz said. "And Tomas' twin brother is Nico (Hernandez), who is one of the guys who is out for the year injured so he's playing even harder to honor his brother. He's been a rock back there for us."