The Chart Online

Venezuelan joins Southern
T.J. Gerlach

Staff Writer

No, he's not the Caesar of Rome, he's C sar V zquez, goalie for Missouri Southern's soccer team. It was the chance to play soccer that brought V zquez to the College and the state of Missouri.

V zquez, an international business major, will be a senior in the spring and came here from Caracas, Venezuela.

It s a big change, he said. There are five million people in Caracas [so] Joplin could be the neighborhood I lived in in Caracas.

V zquez and fellow Venezuelan Gustavo Rumbos, senior international business major, came to the United States to play soccer. The pair went to Allen County (Kansas) Community College before Rumbos transferred to Southern to play on the men s soccer team. A short time after, Gustavo called me and said we need a goalie here.

V zquez transferred to Southern in the fall of 2001 and became the starting goalkeeper for the team.

He works extremely hard, said Geoff VanDeusen, head soccer coach. C sar s very friendly, but you don t want to piss him off.

He s a nice guy, said Lucas Silva, one of V zquez s roommates and teammates. He s like a second coach; he tells us what to do out on the field.

V zquez has spent three years so far in the United States and two semesters at Southern.

It s not that bad [living in Joplin], V zquez said, but I came here only for soccer. I leave every spring if possible.

Last spring he traveled to Sweden with the business department. He also plans on going to Hungary and Denmark in the spring and coming back in the fall for one more soccer season. V zquez plans on graduating in December 2003.

V zquez lives in an apartment off campus with the two Brazilian members of the soccer team, Silva and Marcio Araujo. Every day, V zquez walks to class in the morning and works daily in the language lab tutoring students in Spanish or operating some of the equipment for instructors. He also helps out with the jobs VanDeusen needs done for the soccer team.

At night, V zquez spends most of his time studying or watching movies. In the off-season, he tries to go different places like Springfield or Kansas City.

As for his opinion of the soccer team, V zquez believes the team played better this year than last.

Even though we won more games last year, we played less competitive teams, he said. [This year] we played 16 games. At least 10 games were against ranked teams. We got some talent, out of 11 starters, seven were freshmen. We need two or three more players who can score.