Women's soccer team faces No. 1 Tyler in national tournament semifinals

The Eastern Florida State College women's soccer team heads into the NJCAA Division I National Championship semifinals on a roll.

The Titans have scored more goals than any other team in Foley, Alabama heading into the semifinals with 10 goals in two games. Sophomore Cristina Garriga leads the tournament with four goals including her third career hat trick on Wednesday to secure the spot in the semifinals. The Region VIII Player of the Year now has 15 goals on the season for the Titans.

But the Titans will be tested on Friday as they meet the defending national champion and No. 1 seed Tyler Junior College in the first semifinal of the day.

Tyler comes into the matchup 22-1-1 and have won 13 games in a row including a 5-1 win over Monroe Community College Wednesday to advance to the semifinals. The Apaches come into the tournament with 117 goals, which is fourth in the nation led by the duo of Patricia Estupinan and Hitomi Kono who have 18 and 17 goals respectively.

"It is going to be a tough game, they are No. 1 in the country and defending national champions for a reason," Eastern Florida State College women's soccer coach Jeff Carr said. "We have our work cut out for us but the ladies have worked and competed to get to this game." 

Defensively, both teams have allowed just one goal in the tournament and Tyler has allowed just 12 goals all season while the Titans have allowed 18 goals.

Historically, the two teams have met twice in the national tournament and split the two meetings as Tyler ended the Titans season last year with a 4-0 victory in the national semifinals. Eastern Florida State College won 2-1 in the semifinals in 2012.