The Richland men’s soccer team won its sixth straight national title Sunday night in Gastonia, North Carolina. They defeated third-seeded Mohawk Valley Community College 4-0 in the National Junior College Athletic Association Division III National Championship.
Luis Vargus opened the scoring in the championship by notching his seventh goal of the NJCAA tournament on an assist from Joseph Min in the 17th minute. The T-Ducks then added to their lead in the 26th, 66th and 80th minutes with goals from Felipe Escorcia, Valerio Del Mastro and Vargus who scored his second goal of the match and eighth in the NJCAA tournament.
The T-Ducks outshot the Hawks in the second half 15-0 and outshot them 24-2 for the match.
In route to their 12th national title in program history, the top seeded T-Ducks started off their tournament play hot with Vargus scoring a miraculous five goals, closing the game 9-0 and clobbering Harper College to advance. In the semifinals, the T-Ducks faced off against the fourth-seeded Herkimer College (12-2). They were notched at zero until the 37th minute when Ivan Villatoro found the back of the net on an assist from Vargus. He then notched his sixth goal of the tournament in the 56th minute, helping the T-Ducks secure another shutout victory 2-0 and advance to the NJCAA championship game.
T-Ducks’ star freshman goalkeeper Arath Valdez did not allow a single goal in the tournament, while offensively the team outscored their opponents a combined 15-0.
