Men's Soccer Defends National Title
Article Courtesy of Tyler Morning Telegraph
Tyler Junior College captured two national championships in a matter of hours on Saturday.
The TJC men's and women's soccer teams won NJCAA titles on opposite sides of the country.
First in Prescott, Arizona, coach Steve Clements' Apaches, the No. 4 seed, defeated No. 2 Schoolcraft (Michigan), 2-0, at Mountain Valley Field to win the NJCAA Division I national title for the second consecutive year.
It was the 57th and 58th national championships in the history of the school.About three hours later in Melbourne, Florida, coach Corey Rose's Apache Ladies, the No. 2 seed, duplicated the men's feat by capturing the NJCAA Division I national championship with a 1-0 victory over No. 6 ASA Brooklyn (New York) at Titan Field.
Carlton McKenzie put the Apaches on top 1-0 with just 16 minutes to play when he scored and Mohammed Kamara, on an assist from Yudai Tashiro, iced the championship with a goal with 1:18 on the clock.APACHES
It is the sixth national soccer championship for the Apaches, all under Hall of Fame coach Clements, who has 458 career victories. Previous TJC national titles were in 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2016. It is the seventh as a coach for Clements. His 2000 Meridian (Mississippi) team won the national crown.
The Apaches finished runner-up in 2013 and 2015. It was also the sixth straight national finals appearance for TJC and the Apaches' 13th overall national tournament bid.
TJC (23-2) handed the Ocelots their first loss of the season. The Livonia, Michigan, school ends its season at 18-1.
Kamara, a forward, was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament, while teammates Robbie Johnson, a goalkeeper, and McKenzie, a right winger, were on the all-tournament team.
Clements was named Coach of the Year.
Kamara, a sophomore from Monrovia, Liberia, scored six goals in four games in the tournament. Kamara scored 48 goals this season, including a goal in all 22 games he played. He missed three games due to injury. Kamara also had three assists this year.
Johnson, a sophomore from Manchester, England, had three saves in recording the clean sheet. He gave up 12 goals in 19 games this season.
McKenzie, a sophomore from Birmingham, England, scored three goals in the national tournament, including one each in the semifinals and finals. He scored 10 goals with five assists this season.
Other starters for the Apaches in the championship game were Marcelo Da Silva Anton (sophomore, Orlando, Florida), Nicholas Le Metayer (sophomore, Paris), Jacob Daffern (freshman, Milton Keynes, England), Michael Boakye (sophomore, Hartford, Connecticut), Fredi Ortega (sophomore, Chicago), Musa Qongo (freshman, Johannesburg, South Africa) and Tashiro (sophomore, Tokyo). Also playing were Paul Odendahl (sophomore, Meerbusch, Germany), Kalifah Dukuly (freshman, Monrovia), George Braima (sophomore, Columbus, Ohio), Diasuke Otsuka (freshman, Matsudo, Japan), Omer Priouv (freshman, Ramat Gan, Israel) and Rashad Dodds (freshman, Houston).
Assistant coaches are Wayne Hall, Derek Talcott and Casey Osborne.
Other members of the team are Camden Lepley (sophomore, Austin), Deihnei Sarnor (freshman, Columbus), Fabian Garcia (sophomore, Atlanta, Georgia), Isaias Robles (sophomore, Tyler), Jon Emmerling (freshman, Bochum, Germany), Jonathan Price (freshman, Orlando), Juan Ibarra (freshman, Nacogdoches), Leon Karman (sophomore, Emmendingen, Germany), Leonardo Hernandez (sophomore, Dallas), Maynor Espinoza (freshman, Raleigh, North Carolina), Mortiz Koester (freshman, Syke, Germany), Pedro Tavarez (sophomore, San Antonio), Sergio Saucedo (freshman, Tyler) and Theo Blachon (sophomore, St. Etienne, France).