Women's soccer team plays in national tournament semifinal Friday

The Eastern Florida State College women's soccer team enters the NJCAA Division I National Championship Tournament on a roll, scoring more goals than any team in the tournament.

The Titans, who are the No. 2 seed, are the only team to score five goals during pool play and accomplished it in both games, outscoring opponents 10-1 in pool play.

They will face a familiar foe in Tyler Junior College at 1 p.m. at Orlando Health Stadium at the Melbourne campus of Eastern Florida State College in the second semifinal. 

The two teams are meeting in the semifinals for the third straight year as Tyler Junior College has won the past two seasons to advance to the final.

"Tyler for the third time in a row – they have a heck of a team and it will be a big challenge for us," Eastern Florida State College women's soccer coach Jeff Carr said. "We are excited to get the opportunity and hopefully we can fare better than we have the last two years against them."

Eastern Florida State College has been led by Julieta Limardo, who has scored twice in each of the two games in pool play.

The freshman from Miami now has six goals in the postseason after scoring three times during the regular season.

Limardo smiled and said it must be the new boots, pointing down to her spikes after defeating Gillette College Wednesday night.

Teammate Paula Garrido has also had a big postseason, scoring in each game of the national tournament.

Tyler Junior College comes into the tournament as the No. 3 seed and is 20-1 on the season. They went 2-0 in pool play and after shutting out Seminole State College on Monday, topped Snow College 3-2 behind Mukarama Abdulai's two-goal effort. Abdulai now has 23 goals this season for the Apaches.

Tyler is in the semifinals for the fourth straight year and won the title in 2017 and lost to Monroe College, who is in the other semifinal, last year in the final. In 2016 the Apaches lost to Paradise Valley for the title.

Tickets are $10 for adults and EFSC students, faculty or staff are free with their ID. Parking is available at the soccer complex or in the King Center parking lot. The game will be available to watch live online at njcaachampstv.com