As the school year kicks into gear, sports are in full swing. Head coach Jon Havens is coming into the 2023-2024 basketball season with five regular season conference championships, as well as four national tournament appearances in his nine-year coaching stint at the Richland Campus of Dallas College.
Everyone knows the most difficult thing about being a champion is to defend your title. However, Dallas College Richland Campus men’s soccer team makes it look easy with how they have been playing lately. The Thunderducks have once again topped the NJCAA Div. III rankings while they continue on their quest to winning their sixth title in a row, making it 11 national championship wins.
Edward Trahan, Richland Campus’ basketball team forward, was selected to play in the National Junior College Athletic Association Men's Basketball Coaches Association All-Star Game May 20 at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas due to his outstanding performance. According to rlcsports.com, Trahan was selected as the NJCAA Division III National Player of the Week Feb.16.
Richland’s men’s soccer team has finished its training session for this year. Now they are preparing for the beginning of the tryouts to field a team for next season. At press time, the tryouts were scheduled to start on April 30.
“This semester the team plays many friendly games against universities in order to strengthen their competitive level, besides trying to find an option for a scholarship,”head men’s soccer coach Raul Herrera said.
Richland Campus hosted the Dallas Cup soccer tournament again this year. The event, which is held during Easter week, was founded by the Texas Longhorns Soccer Club in 1980. The club launched the tournament because they wanted to return the fellowship that European teams showed to their teams that had traveled throughout that part of the world, according to dallascup.org.
The invitation-only event lasted nine days, with several games played every day at various locations. Richland hosted the games five of those nine days.
Richland’s Thunderducks baseball team defeated the Cedar Valley Suns 15-11 at Richland on March 25. A seven-run rally in the third inning was enough for the team coached by Jimmy Brenneman to get the win. The T-Ducks were up 11-0 in the first third of the game and it seemed that the victory could be smooth. However, Cedar Valley would not give up so easily.
Richland Campus of Dallas College has a new head volleyball coach for the upcoming season that starts August 1. Grace Wells was born in Beijing, China and lived there for 20 years. Coach Wells is a former professional volleyball player in her country. She competed in the USA, Australia, Poland, North Korea and France. She was selected to play on the national team after seven years of experience as a player.
Stephanie Peel is the new Richland women’s soccer team coach, taking over the role after Scott Toups decided to step down from coaching to join the full-time faculty.
Coach Peel started on Feb. 6 and she and the team started training immediately since friendly games are being played.
“Just right away when I came in, I was impressed by how the girls work, by the quality of their training. I was impressed by the intensity that they worked out,” Peel said.
FC Dallas won a great victory at Toyota Stadium in Frisco 2-1 against Sporting Kansas City on March 18, Matchday 4 of the Major League Soccer 2023. Alan Velasco and Jesus Ferreira scored for the locals. Daniel Sallói pushed across the only goal for the visitors.
FC Dallas and Kansas City both played in a 4-3-3 system, but Sporting Kansas City was the team that took advantage creating several opportunities to score. Coached by Peter Vermes, Kansas City started the game without scoring one goal in its statistics, but during the first half, they would break the zero.
Jesse Serrano, Layout & Design Editor
| March 7, 2023
Did you know Richland Campus has an Esports athletic program?
Perhaps you’ve wanted to level-up your skills and push yourself to become the best there is, or maybe you already consider yourself a talented player and want to put it to the test. By playing with fellow students who share your passion for teamwork and objective focused gameplay, you can show that you take video games seriously.
FC Dallas lost to Minnesota United 1-0 at Toyota Stadium in Frisco on the first day of Major League Soccer season on Feb. 25.
Dallas started the game in a tactical system 4-3-3, whereas Minnesota played in a flexible 4-4-2 with Robin Lod and Mender García as forwards who frequently changed to 4-2-3-1. On defense, Dallas, coached by Nico Estévez, did a good job in the first half with effective pressure. On FC Dallas’ left side, Marco Farfan and Alan Velasco defended properly, avoiding the attack of the Minnesota players Kemar Lawrence and Bongokuhle Hlongwane.
The remainder of the regular season is very critical for the Dallas Mavericks as they seek to make the playoffs while staying above the six seed to avoid the play-in tournament. Despite their efforts, the Mavs lost to the Los Angeles Lakers 111-108 on Feb. 26.
One of the biggest takeaways from the trade deadline was that without a doubt the Mavs will not have a problem with scoring. With superstars Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving being elite ball handlers and shot creators it is easily said that opportunities will be made for their teammates.
