His Anguish Lingers Long After the Kick : Notre Dame’s Herrera Has Recovered Slowly From a Soccer Assault That Received National Media Attention

The sight last fall of Harvard-Westlake’s soccer field jolted Ryan Herrera, nine months after the incident.

The Notre Dame High player had not seen his field of bad dreams since February, when he was kicked in the head during a match by Harvard-Westlake player Dwight Angelini. That kick triggered a legal and emotional maelstrom for both parties.

Angelini was arrested and charged with felony assault--apparently the first time in state history that criminal charges were filed against an athlete for violence on the playing field--and the case drew widespread media attention.

Herrera, meanwhile, missed the remainder of the season and quietly endured months of pain, uncertainty and the aftereffects of the head trauma.

As Herrera’s gaze fell on the green grass and empty goals at Harvard-Westlake, a sense of dread he had tried to forget came rushing to his mind.

“It hit me,” he said. “It was pretty scary.”

And today, the senior forward returns again to Harvard-Westlake as the Knights and Wolverines meet for the first time since that fateful Feb. 3 match.

Players and coaches on both teams downplayed the emotional significance of the match, saying the incident is buried well in the past--especially because Angelini has graduated and plays for Yale. His brother, Brian, is a junior playing for Harvard-Westlake.

But it is not just another match for Herrera, who summed up his experience since being kicked:

“It was hell.”

Though Herrera is generally pain-free while playing soccer, his road to recovery has been long and slow, and the journey is not over.

He suffered intense headaches and neck pain for months after the kick, which he said knocked him unconscious. Physical exertion exacerbated the problem and he was unable to resume playing soccer until the spring. A torn muscle in his neck healed crookedly, doctors told him. He underwent physical therapy and did exercises to rehabilitate the injury.

But there were other effects, subtler and more troubling. Since the kick Herrera, by his own admission, is uncharacteristically irritable and easily frustrated and sometimes has difficulty concentrating.

Homework he used to complete in an hour now sometimes takes nearly twice as long, his mother Gloria said. His grades have dropped slightly. He tires easily and requires much more sleep, and still takes regular naps.

“I went to a doctor recently and he said that all this is part of (what can occur after a head injury),” Herrera said. “He said it could last for another year and prescribed lots of rest.”

The Herreras have filed a civil lawsuit against Harvard-Westlake, alleging negligence. The Herreras’ attorney, Russell Nordstrom, said the private school in Studio City has filed cross-complaints against both Angelini and Herrera claiming that the fault in the matter lies with them. Nordstrom estimated that it will take roughly a year for the case to be settled.

But legal precedents and lawsuits are only some of the lingering reminders for Herrera. Last spring, he was interviewed by several television news programs, including “Hard Copy” (the interview was never aired), and the story was covered by several newspapers and magazines.

“I don’t really like to talk about it,” he said. “But I did so hopefully this won’t ever happen again.”

Mainly, though, media attention was focused on Angelini. For example, neither Herrera nor his family were contacted or interviewed for a long feature story about the incident recently published in Los Angeles magazine. The story portrayed Angelini as the victim of the incident and downplayed Herrera’s plight. Numerous people who witnessed the kick disputed the accuracy of the story.

The article frustrated Herrera and his family. Not only had their son been kicked in the head, it seemed from the outset that they constantly had to defend him. They were forced to explain the unusual situation to people who thought the family was overreacting to a “boys will be boys” type of incident. Herrera heard painful reminders from friends who knew Angelini and said many were not told the truth about the kick.

“One person said that Angelini said, ‘I was just turning around and meant to kick the air out of frustration,’ and he happened to kick my head,” Herrera said. “Or that he barely kicked me, and I’m just a big baby.”

Notre Dame Coach Colm McFeeley also was dismayed about the portrayal of Herrera and the rest of the team as rough, dirty players.

“The Harvard side of it was well told,” he said. “But we were made to look as if we approached the game looking to do damage to people. I felt that was mis-portrayed and I think that hurt the kids.”

But the theme for this match is that time, hopefully, heals all wounds--even a kick to the head.

“That’s in the past,” Brian Angelini said of the incident. “It had nothing to do with me. In my mind, there will be a lot of emotions, but the whole thing with my brother has nothing to do with it. I just get pumped up for big games.”

It is an important match. The Wolverines (9-0-3) have been the class of the Mission League this season, and have won all four of their league matches. Notre Dame (9-4, 2-2) was a playoff team last season but has been inconsistent and needs an upset. Coaches from both schools said no special precautions would be needed for the match.

“In regards to there being any animosity from last year, no, I don’t see it,” McFeeley said.

Said Wolverine Coach Rick Commons: “I’ll remind our guys to keep our behavior above reproach. But most of our players have put the incident well behind them. Time passes. It seems like it was a long, long time ago.”

It is understandably less removed from Herrera’s mind.

“He tries not to think about what happened, but sometimes he fears there’s going to be someone crazy out there,” Gloria Herrera said. “But he loves soccer.”

Said Bryan Herrera: “I think about it every time before I go on the field. But once I start playing, I can usually forget about it.”

Still, it isn’t easy. Herrera played midfield and defense last year, but is less aggressive in rough contact situations, according to McFeeley and some teammates. But Herrera has scored two goals this season as a striker and continues to improve and regain his pre-kick form, McFeeley said.

All concerned seem confident that the memories and consequences of the kick and its aftermath will continue to fade into the past. This time, everyone contends, nothing will mar the match for Herrera or anyone else.

“I’m sure he’ll have thoughts go through his mind, but he’s not a vindictive kid,” McFeeley said. “I know he’ll go out and give 100% again and I know the rest of them will, too. And, God willing, we’ll have come away doing soccer a service, because it was done a disservice last time.”