Men’s Soccer Season Ends

From left to right: Kevin Potts, Derek Yoder, Michael Chapman, Coach David Hoffmann, Preston Waltrip, and Blaise Dufrain

The Men’s Soccer season ended Sunday as UD fell to nationally ranked no. 5 Trinity University 2-1. Had the boys won, we would have progressed to the SCAC tournament in our first season in the conference. The game was hard fought, and though Trinity enjoyed most of the possession, UD was able to tie it at 1-1 before Trinity snuck in a late goal. The team is comforted by a 4-2 finish to the season, which represents hopeful promise for next fall.

The Trinity game was the senior day for the UD men’s team as well, with Kevin Potts, Derek Yoder, Blaise Dufrain, Preston Waltrip, and myself all bowing out of the college sports scene. There will be fond memories of these careers.

Women’s Soccer tie University of Houston-Victoria 0-0

This Sunday, October 23, the UD Women’s Soccer team traveled to Victoria, TX to play a non-conference game against the 5-8-1 University of Houston-Victoria Jaguars. It was a long weekend for the team, as they had games against Dallas Christian (12-0) and Austin College (0-0) on Friday and Saturday, respectively. The Crusaders’ fatigue showed on Sunday. The Crusaders outshot the Jaguars in regular time, but were unable to score any goals. Their attack slowed down in the second half when freshman Nicole Johnson was shown a red card in the 67th minute. As the game progressed, the Crusaders’ fatigue from a long weekend and from playing shorthanded began to show, the Jaguars outshooting them 7-1 in the overtime periods. The Crusaders did not allow any goals, however, and the game ended scoreless.

30 Fulbrights, 0 Heismans? We poll this attitude.

Student-athletes at the University of Dallas have long complained about the administration’s attitude towards athletics. Without passing judgement, what do you think?

Men’s Soccer win 2-0 over Austin College

This Sunday, October 22, the UD Men’s Soccer team took the field against their SCAC rivals Austin College. The Crusaders got off to a quick start when senior captain Michael Chapman fired a set free kick into the goal to put UD up 1-0 in the 10th minute. Only minutes later, Austin College was awarded a free kick of their own that could have tied the game, but they were thwarted by a timely save from Crusader’s goalkeeper James Kerin. The Crusaders kept most of the possession for the remainder of the half.
In the second half, Austin College put pressure on the Crusaders taking 12 shots to the Crusaders 8, but UD sealed their victory when freshman Matt Wise struck a powerful shot into the opponents goal from outside the penalty area.
The game ended 2-0 and the Crusaders look forward to their final two SCAC games this weekend against Southwestern University and Trinity University.

Men’s and Women’s Soccer run riot on Dallas Christian

Twenty-one to nothing was the combined score of UD’s soccer program against Dallas Christian in games that saw the men and women win 9-0 and 12-0 respectively.

The women played first and managed to finish the first half 10-0. Before the game had ended, freshman Nicole Johnson and sophomore Claire Sexton had scored 5 goals each. The girls play Saturday (today) at 12:15 against Austin College.

The men enjoyed similar fortune with the first half ending 5-0, allowing Coach David Hoffmann to rest his starters for Saturday’s 2 o’clock game against Austin College. Traditionally a rivalry, this will be a game hard fought on both sides.

Bus breakdown leaves Men’s and Women’s Soccer teams stranded in North Little Rock

After their games against Hendrix College this Friday, the Men’s and Women’s Soccer teams (winning 3-2 and losing 3-0, respectively) boarded their shared charter bus at 11 P.M. for what they thought would be a five and a half hour drive back to Irving. Unfortunately, their bus suffered a broken water line and would not start. The driver parked in a Shell gas station in North Little Rock and sought instructions via cell phone from his supervisor.

A mechanic arrived shortly thereafter and attempted to fix the broken pipe. He was unsuccessful, however, and at 3 A.M., after several hours of failed repairs, the bus company opted to call a replacement bus to drive down from Memphis, three hours away.

Meanwhile, the two soccer teams attempted to pass the time in the Shell station and the unfortunate debacle ultimately became a valuable bonding experience for both teams.

At 6 A.M., the new bus arrived from Memphis and the Crusaders were finally able to return home without further misfortune.

Men’s Soccer clinch 3-2 win over Hendrix

The Men’s soccer team began their weekend with an inconvenient setback after their 4 P.M. game this Friday, October 14, was pushed back to 8 P.M.

This, however, did not prevent the Crusaders from beginning the game on top with an early 4th minute goal by Alex Hoyt. Hendrix immediately fought back, bombarding the Crusaders defense for the next twenty minutes and finally scoring in the 24th minute with a driven shot that bounced off the bottom of the crossbar, tying up the game. The play was end to end for the remaining minutes of the half until the Crusaders scored a second goal on a free kick in the 38th minute, putting them ahead at halftime.

Hendrix began the second half with heavy pressure, putting the Crusaders on their heels and scoring a goal from a cross to the back post just two minutes into the half. Again, the Crusaders pushed to get ahead and in the 51st minute scored a third goal off of a rebound. For the rest of the game, Dallas absorbed Hendrix’s pressure and, due to a solid defensive strategy and several great saves by goalkeeper James Kerin, the Crusaders closed the game with a 3-2 victory.

Athletics Roundup: Cross Country, Volleyball, & Hall of Fame

The UD women’s cross country team finished 5th in the Centenary College of Louisiana Invitational over the weekend with Junior Rachel Oleksiak finishing in the top 15. The Men’s team finished 10th in the meet.

More recently, the women’s volleyball team honored their seniors (Danielle Fuchs, Liz Baska, and Rachel Macgilvary) in style on Tuesday night with a convincing 3-0 victory over visiting Arlington Baptist College. I couldn’t be there myself due to class obligations, but just from asking around, the atmosphere was pretty phenomenal – the support for these senior girls, who have given so much to the program over their careers, was truly heartwarming.

In the world of prestige, the University of Dallas Athletics Hall of Fame inducted four new members on Sunday: Sister Mary Gretchen Hoffman, R.S.M.; Coach James Vilade; Jerome Vanier; and Elena Yates. Read all about it at the official UD athletics site.

Women’s Volleyball win twice in ‘Fall Break’ Classic

Emily Meyers serves against St. Lawrence

The University of Dallas Volleyball team defeated Southwestern Christian College and St. Lawrence University in a successful weekend that moves their season to 15-13 overall.

In a match that was closer than the score suggests, the ladies defeated St. Lawrence 3-1 (21-25, 25-22, 26-24, 25-19). Congratulations to the ladies on a hard fought victory!

The victory against Southwestern proved to be a much more casual affair, as the ladies won 3-1 (25-3, 25-11, 25-11).

The Volleyball team’s next game will tonight (Monday night, at home) at 5pm versus Arlington Baptist. This will be Senior Night, and will honor seniors Liz Baska, Daniel Fuchs, and Rachel MacGillivray.

Congratulations to the Volleyball team on a successful weekend! And be sure to attend tonight’s game to honor the seniors!

Women’s Soccer bested by Centre College

Women’s soccer suffered a 3-0 loss at home to 8-3 Centre College this Sunday, October 9. The heavy rain was a major factor in the game, causing kickoff to be moved forward 30 minutes and peppering the field with large, standing puddles. The adverse weather ultimately did not prevent Centre College from playing attacking soccer, however, as they attempted 14 shots throughout the game and held the Crusaders to a total of 5. The UD women’s team looks forward another SCAC game against Hendrix this Friday.