Tyler Junior College opens tourney with 3-0 win

They’re talented, and as they showed in their first game of the NJCAA National women’s soccer Championship Tournament, the Tyler Junior College Apaches have plenty of depth.

And that can be a big advantage in a tournament like this.

Claire Ramet scored on an assist from Ana Lesmes 28 seconds into the game and the Apaches would go on to score two more times as fifth-seeded Tyler defeated No. 9 Darton State 3-0 at Eastern Florida State College.

“We came out strong … I think that set the tone for us,” Tyler head coach Corey Rose said. “We worked on pressuring the ball. I thought (Darton State) would be tired from playing back-to-back with limited subs, so we wanted to press them a lot and make them work really hard.”

Darton State (13-3-0), which upset No. 4 Iowa Western 3-2 on Monday, was at a decided depth disadvantage. The Cavaliers had only three subs to work with while Tyler used its entire 24-player roster.

“I think it’s going to be that way for the rest of the week,” Rose said. “We were able to move players in and out. We play a lot of back-to-back games, too, throughout the season so we’re used to it.”

Of course, getting a goal before the game is even 30 seconds old helps, too.

“I just got the ball and Claire was open,” Lesmes said. “She called my name. I could take a shot, but I saw she was by herself so I passed it to her and she finished really good.”

It remained a 1-0 game until the 30-minute mark when Lesmes got a goal of her own on a ball she intended to be a pass.

“I was trying to cross it to (Riley Macleod),” Lesmes said. “I knew on that side, if no one was going to touch it, it was going to go into the goal. Either someone was going to touch it, or it was going to go in.”

Carlota Suarez would score with eight minutes to play to make it a 3-0 game.

Tyler (20-2-1) will play Iowa Western on Wednesday at 10 a.m. in the final game of pool play. If the Apaches win, they will win the pool and advance to the semifinals. An Iowa Western win would mean all three teams finish 1-1 in pool play and the team that advances will be decided by goal differential.

Darton State will be rooting for Iowa Western on Wednesday. The Cavaliers are in their final season as Darton State will merge with Albany State and move up to NCAA Division II competition.

“They came out ready to play and I guess we just weren’t awake that second,” Cavaliers coach Alex Pickrell said of Tyler’s early goal.

“Not the best way to start a game. They definitely have a deep bench and a talented bench as well. It’s a talented squad all the way through. It’s tough to play against. They were a great team.”