As the semester comes to an end, some of the sports programs here at the University of Dallas will also conclude their seasons, such as volleyball, soccer, golf and cross country. Let’s take a look at how some of their seasons went.
Men’s soccer finished the season with a 5-10 record. The team held a 5-5 record towards the end of the season, only to be derailed by injuries that cost them another five losses.
“I would say the season started well,” said Head Coach David Hoffmann. “Injuries definitely took a toll though. We ended up using 21 different starters. A normal year would be more along the lines of 14 or 15. Injuries to both GKs certainly negatively impacted the last four matches of the year.”
Midway through the season Hoffmann became the winningest coach in UD history across all sports, passing baseball coach Rich Gaffney.
A player to highlight is senior midfielder Chase Reynolds, winner of four consecutive SCAC all-conference awards and 2x Team MVP.
While the season ended with some disappointment, the team is optimistic for the future. “[The] arrow is pointed up,” said Hoffmann, “50% of our minutes were played by freshmen. Another 25% by sophomores. That much youth is a disadvantage. However, it is encouraging in terms of potential for improvement and growth.”
The youth of the team and the know-how of Hoffmann bodes well for UD’s men’s soccer. The program has the potential to be quite successful in the coming seasons.
Cross country had a good end to the season. The women’s team placed No. 5 out of seven in conference and for the first time in UD history, all of the top five runners in men’s cross country recorded sub-30 minute 8k times at the Bill Libby Meet hosted by McMurry University. “That is HUGE with a young team like ours,” said Schneigert. “Cross country isn’t about times due to hills and terrain so it’s not like track where time is very important, but it’s definitely a benchmark. It does say we have come a long way since I came here.”
The biggest news came from senior Anna Wilgenbusch, who placed No. 2 at the conference championships, No. 10 at one of the most difficult regional championships, and No. 32 at the NCAA DIII National Championships.
“She did so much over the summer to prepare herself for this fall despite some of the challenges she had,” said Schneigert. “She ran on this course in 2019 so she was familiar with it. And the course was mostly flat which was perfect for her as she is more of a finesse type of runner. She was locked on during the workouts and it paid off.”
Wilgenbusch was the only NCAA All-American from Texas. UD has three All-American titles; Wilgenbusch has two of them.
Women’s volleyball ended the season with an overall record of 11-17 and went 5-11 in conference. Their head coach, Kelli Trautmann, pointed out that UD volleyball competes in a tough division.
She said in an email, “Our conference is pretty stacked for volleyball and we had 3 nationally ranked teams throughout the season and even the rest of the teams are competitive.”
With this tough conference, Trautmann was complimentary of her team, saying “We did have some really great moments as a team and overall the program has seen growth even though our record doesn’t always show it.”
Trautmann said that her players will work hard this off-season and continue to grow as a team as well as student athletes. Keep your eyes peeled for volleyball in the coming seasons — they are eager to match their competitive conference.
Indeed, things are looking up for these sports programs. Hopefully, the coming seasons will exhibit this much promise as well. For now, congratulations to all the concluding sports.
