For URI men’s soccer co-captain Dominik Richter, he had never been named the Atlantic 10’s Offensive Player of the Week. But Richter can finally check that off his to-do list.
“It means a lot,” Richter said on his recognition. “I’ve tried to get this award the past two years and this is the first time I’ve actually got it.”
He earned the recognition after beating Holy Cross 2-0 and Richter converted a 14th minute penalty kick to give Rhode Island the lead. The Rams then traveled to Davidson where they tied 2-2. In that conference game, the Rams struck first when Chae Brangman scored off a corner kick from Richter. Later in the game, Rhody was trailing 2-1 with just 25 seconds remaining in regulation when Richter scored the equalizer. That draw extended the unbeaten streak to 10 consecutive games.
Richter had been close to receiving this honor in the past, but he could just never grab it. “The last two years, I did really well in one game and then in the next I didn’t score or get an assist,” Richter said. “But this week it worked both ways.”
Being named the top offensive player for a week is even more satisfying because Richter suffered an injury which made him miss the first month of the season. However, his coaches and trainers helped him through the injury so he could recover back to normal.
“I had a lot of good work with my trainers and a lot different exercises with our strength coach,” Richter said of his process of getting back to full strength. “It was great work by the coaching staff to get me feeling healthy again.”
Since he has returned healthy, Richter has played in 10 games, scoring four goals along with three assists.
Before coming to Rhode Island, Richter grew up in Neumarkt, Germany. Richter’s past two years apart of the Rams have had successful seasons, but this year he feels more confident in winning the conference championship.
“Our goal is to win the championship,” Richter said of finishing the season . “We all want to win the ring because we’ve been close the previous years but we couldn’t quite get it. But this is our year.”