It is no secret that Texas teams are always in the conversation when it comes to championship contention. Whether it be in football, basketball, hockey or even baseball, you can never count teams out, especially Dallas. But what about soccer? As we know, the current NJCAA Div III reigning soccer champs for the past six years are located in Dallas on the Richland campus of Dallas College (go Thunderducks!), as well as one of the NCAA Div I powerhouses located closer to downtown in...
Lionel Messi played his second game against FC Dallas on Jan. 22 in preparation for the upcoming MLS season, a game in which FC Dallas came up with the win, scoring in the third minute of the match. As Inter Miami CF prepared for the season with friendly matches, they headed to Saudi Arabia to face Cristiano Ronaldo and Al Nasr in what shaped up to be the last ever matchup between the two greatest soccer players to play the game. The question remains though, who is the greatest of all time? Many...
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.
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.
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 Richland men’s soccer team has already started training for next season, led by head coach Raul Herrera. The Thunderducks were victors last season, winning their fifth national championship in a row. The coaching staff has finished recruiting and think the team has all the tools to defend their title in 2023.
“They won three straight games, and they ended up national champions for the fifth time in a row,” said Lynn Nabi, Dallas College Richland Campus athletic director. The men’s soccer team traveled to Batavia, New York to play for the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division DIII on Nov. 13. They took their fifth national championship in a row with a final score of 2-0 over the host team, Genesse Community College.
“No other men’s soccer team in the nation has won four consecutive championships. So, we are very proud of our student athletes and coach Raul Herrera,” Dr. Kay Eggleston, president of Dallas College Richland Campus, said during the championship ring ceremony on Aug. 23.
The 2021 Richland men’s soccer team and its head coach, Raul Herrera, were recognized in a ring ceremony held in the El Paso Student Lounge.
Richland’s women’s soccer Thunderducks are coming out of the off-season with new incoming players and the common goal of breaking the ceiling of last season’s efforts.
In the 2021-2022 season, the T-Ducks finished with a competitive 6-3-1 (.650-win percentage) in their conference.
On Aug. 15, the NJCAA released the preseason rankings naming Richland 9th overall coming into this year’s season.
