BROCTON, N.Y. -- The Westfield-Brocton soccer team has moved up to the top 5 in Class C standings thanks in large part to foreign exchange student Rintaro Mizuno.
Mizuno traveled nearly 7,000 miles from his native Yokohama, Japan to be a student at Brocton. Despite the distance, he's found a home on the pitch.
"Soccer makes me friends, soccer makes me famous in school, soccer helps me with everything," said Mizuno.
He's more than helped Westfield/Brocton. In Japan, Mizuno plays defense. For the Wolfdogs, it's all offense. The senior has scored 14 goals in just 6 games.
"When I score a goal it's the best," said Mizuno.
Minuno's scoring acumen has more than impressed his stateside coaches and teammates.
"When you know if you get the ball to him at a place where you have a good chance to score, you know that it is going to go," said Dan Skinner, mid-fielder.
"The ball is like velcro to his foot and I thought wow he has excellent footwork," said Jay Pikiewiecz, coach.
"It's amazing. I'm so glad that he is here, I'm happy to play with him. He just knows where the ball is coming, I don't have to do anything," said Raymond Ambroski, senior forward.
Although Rintaro speaks little English and his teammates no Japanese, they do have one language in common, that is speaking the beautiful game. Something their coach has become fluent in by drawing up plays on a piece of paper.
"There is a language, the language of soccer. They don't know much English, but they still can communicate very well," said Pikiewiecz.
"Soccer is a universal language so you can communicate easy with that," said Ambroski.
Rintaro is quick to use his limited English is celebrating his fellow dogs when they find the back of the net. Mizuno and the 5-0-1 Wolfdogs put their perfect mark on the line when they travel to Chautauqua Lake Wednesday.