Abdulai Mukarama scored twice to send TJC Apache Ladies to the semifinals of the NJCAA
The Tyler Junior College Apache Ladies are one win away from playing in their fourth straight national soccer championship match.
TJC (20-1) scored a 3-2 win over Snow (Utah) on Wednesday to clinch a semifinals berth in the NJCAA Division I Women’s National Soccer Tournament at Orlando Health Stadium in Melbourne, Florida.
The Apache Ladies, seeded No. 3, will play in the noon semifinal against host and No. 2 seed Eastern Florida State (16-0-0) on Friday. The other semifinal will pit No. 1 Monroe (New York) (13-0-0) against No. 11 Lewis & Clark (Illinois) (20-3) at 9 a.m. Friday.
The winners advance to the national championship game that is scheduled for 6 p.m. Saturday.
Snow tied the game at 2-2 with 11:50 on the clock in the second half but TJC’s Nukarama Abdulai, a 5-8 freshman forward from Tamale, Ghana, scored the go-ahead goal and the eventual game-winner with 9:54 on the scoreboard.
The victory gave the No. 3 seed Apache Ladies the Pool C championship over No. 10 Seminole State of Oklahoma (1-1) and Snow (0-2).
Abdulai scored the first goal of the game for a 1-1 tie and Vicki Adams, a 5-3 freshman from Gyongyos, Hungary, gave TJC a 2-1 lead.
Patricia Estupinan, a sophomore from Spain, had two assists, while Abdulai had an assist.
Sydney Malmstrom, a sophomore from Whitehouse, was in goal for the Apache Ladies.
TJC has won six straight games.
The Apache Ladies have won three national soccer championships — 2009, 2011 and 2017.
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