Tyler Junior College wins, advances to national tournament semifinals

The Tyler Junior College women’s soccer team advanced to the NJCAA Division I National Championship Tournament semifinals for the fourth straight season.

But it wasn’t easy as Snow College pressed and stayed with Tyler Junior College for much of the contest, but the Lady Apaches prevailed 3-2 in a Pool C matchup and finished 2-0 to win the pool and advance to the national tournament semifinals.

“We got outworked a bit today and we had to utilize our attacking and outscore them instead of playing pretty soccer. I think we brought the best out of them,” Tyler Junior College head coach Corey Rose said.

The Lady Apaches got things going in a hurry as Mukarama Abdulai scored within the first minute. It is the 10^th time they have scored in the first 10 minutes of a game this season.

It looked as if Tyler would make it 2-0 but Snow College defender Sage Gentry sprinted across the field to kick away a shot that was destined for the back of the net.

Snow would continue to put pressure on Tyler’s defense and with 24:48 left in the first half they would get the equalizer as Sydney Bushman scored on a penalty kick. 

But that would not last long as Vicki Adams took a pass from Abdulai and buried it with 23 minutes left in the first half.

With 12 minutes remaining in the contest Katie Schirmer would score her 16th goal of the season to tie the game once again.

But Abdulai would not be denied and with 9:54 remaining she would score the game winner to officially send the Apaches back to the semifinals.

“She didn’t score yesterday, but she came out on fire today and got banged up a little but stuck it out,” Rose said. “She is awesome, when she wants to go, she is going to go.”

Abdulai now has 23 goals and 12 assists this season.

“Now we have to get ready for the semifinals, but it is always good to get out of this round,” Rose said.

Tyler Junior College has been in the national championship game each of the past three seasons, winning a national title at Eastern Florida State College in 2017. The semifinals are schedule for 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Friday.