TCU’s Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers are more than just engineers; they are also soccer players.

Last Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025, SHPE Region 5 hosted its annual soccer tournament at the University of North Texas. TCU’s SHPE chapter competed in it for the first time.

It is an 8v8, coed tournament consisting of 20 SHPE groups from Texas and one from Oklahoma. The tournament was held on three fields, with three games being played simultaneously. Each team played two games, and the top eight advanced to the next round. The winner of the tournament got to take home the SHPE trophy, which was held by the University of Texas at Austin for the past two years.  

Alondra Oropeza, a junior computer information technology major, said she was excited about the opportunity to compete in the tournament. She is the club’s vice president external. She played a major role in getting TCU into the tournament.

Oropeza has worked alongside the SHPE executive board to rebuild the club. They wanted to make the chapter bigger and be more social. They saw the tournament as an opportunity to accomplish this. 

To prepare for the tournament, the team practiced every Tuesday and Friday for the past month. Oropeza was confident about their chances. 

“I’m feeling pretty good. I think we’re pretty good. We should do fine,” Oropeza said. She said she felt like the team had a good shot against its first two opponents and was glad they were able to avoid UT.

TCU started the tournament off with a 2-0 win against Texas State University, but there was a miscommunication between the officials and the team leading into the next game. They thought the second game was not going to count, and they ended up losing 0-1 against the University of Texas at San Antonio.

TCU ended the tournament with a 1-1 record. They were not one of the top eight teams, so they did not advance to the next round. Oropeza said she was fine with the result since it was the group’s first year competing.