FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Chancellor Henry Fernandez and Vice President Brian Hankerson announced Friday that LaJoyce “Joy” Al-Ameen would be the head coach for the University of Fort Lauderdale’s Women’s Basketball program.

“We are excited about bringing Joy on board to start the Women’s Basketball program,” Fernandez said. “She brings a wealth of knowledge from her playing career and coaching experience to the table. Coach Al-Ameen brings a lot of passion as a coach and a recruiter that will help take UFTL to the next level.”

Al-Ameen comes to UFTL after being the assistant coach at Florida Memorial University. She recently finished her fourth season as one of FMU Women’s Basketball assistant coaches. She primarily serves as the Recruiting Coordinator and Post/Forward Development Coach, though she has a hand in developing all players in each position.

She has helped the Florida Memorial University Women’s Basketball program reach the postseason in each of the four years, making it to the Conference Tournament semi-finals (or final four) three of four seasons.

“I’m excited for the opportunity to build a women’s basketball program that the University of Fort Lauderdale and the Lauderhill community can be proud of on and off the court,” Al-Ameen said. “Using my experiences as a coach, mentor, and former NCCAA DI player. This team will be built on a solid foundation of a strong work ethic and will exude high character while deepening these young women’s Christian values.”

Al-Ameen started her coaching career as an assistant at Windward School in Los Angeles, California, where she helped the girls’ basketball team win CIF and Regional Championships and its first State Championship.

She helped develop players who went on to play Division I and some professionally, such as Imani McGee-Stafford (University of Texas/Chicago Storm/Atlanta Dream/overseas), Jordan Canada (UCLA/Seattle Storm/overseas), Kristen Simon (USC/overseas) and Courtney Jaco (USC).

Al-Ameen’s basketball journey started for her as a player in Lynwood, California. She helped lead her high school team to 4 league championships, 3 CIF championships, 2 State Championships and 1 National Championship.

From there, she went on to play Division I basketball at Cal State University Northridge. As a member of the CSUN team, she earned 1st Team All-Conference,1st Team All-Tournament and Best Hustle player.

Al-Ameen played four years at CSUN (2003-2007), where she was a three-year starter. She broke the school rebounding record for most rebounds in a game (21) her senior year while averaging a double-double as the team’s starting power forward.

Over her career, she averaged 11.1 points and 7.5 rebounds. She currently holds several records in the University’s history. She is #1 for free throws made (382) as well as attempted (544), #3 in single-season rebounding average (10.9/game), #5 in rebounds (815), #9 in steals (162), #10 in points made (1208) and rebounds (7.5/game).

For two years, she served as the team’s captain and liaison between her team and the administration as a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).

Al-Ameen graduated from CSUN holding two Bachelors of Science degrees in Apparel Design and Production and the second in Apparel Merchandising, along with a minor in Marketing. She received her Master’s in Business Administration from Florida Memorial University, the only Historically Black College/University (HBCU) in South Florida, in 2021, during a global pandemic, while also having her first and only child in December of 2020.

She is a Wife to Ansar Al-Ameen, the Men’s Basketball Head Coach at FMU, a mother to Adara Al-Ameen, a daughter, a sister, an aunt, a friend, and a mentor to many young ladies whom she has crossed paths with.

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Inaugural season for the University of Fort Lauderdale comes to a close as the Eagles fall in the NCCAA National Championship game to No. 2 Concordia University Ann Arbor 13-3 at Motley Field on Tuesday evening.

Wilbert Javier-Vargas was named to the NCCAA World Series All-Tournament team. UFTL would finish the season with a 35-27 record.

Jake Cace was 1-for-3 with a run, a walk and a double, Aderlyn Cubilete went 1-for-4, Javier-Vargas was 1-for-4 with two RBI and a double, and Justin Martinez went 1-of-3 with a walk.

Josh Crawford started, but his night ended early as the game went into a two-hour rain delay in the top of the second inning. Crawford allowed five runs, four earned on four hits and a walk, with a strikeout. Anthony Anselmo pitched 4.2 innings surrendering five runs on 10 hits and three walks while striking out five. Jacob Laroque pitched 0.1 innings giving up three runs on two hits and a walk. Caleb Rodriguez threw 2.2 innings giving up two hits and striking out two.

CUAA scored three runs in the top of the first.

The Cardinals added two runs in the second to build an early 5-0 lead.

Cubilete singled to start the bottom of the second; Chase Davis reached on a fielder’s choice, Cace doubled to left, moving Davis to third, Ethan Kaelin drove in Davis with a sacrifice fly to right, Erik Scott walked, then Javier-Vargas doubled to left to drive in Cace and Scott to cut the lead to 5-3.

Concordia got two runs back in the third to be in front 7-3.

The Cardinals added two runs in the fourth to stretch their lead to 9-3.

CUAA got a run in the sixth and three runs in the seventh to close the scoring at 13-3.

The Eagles finished the NCCAA World Series with a record of 3-2, beating fourth-seeded Mid-America Christian 5-4, top-seeded Southwest Assemblies of God (Texas) 10-0, #3 University of Northwestern (Minn.) 13-4, before falling to No. 2 Concordia (Mich.) 18-5 and 13-3 in the championship game.

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MOCKSVILLE, NC. – The University of Fort Lauderdale dropped the NCCAA South Region Championship to Carolina University on Thursday afternoon, 12-7, at Mando Field at Rich Park. The Eagles now wait to see if they receive an at-large bid to the National Championship.

Josh Crawford led the charge in end-of-the-year awards, being named the NCCAA South Region Pitcher of the Year. Eight others joined Crawford on the first team: infielders Aderlyn Cubilete and Christian Tavarez, outfielders Wilbert Javier-Vargas and Erik Scott, designated hitter/utility Malachi Woodside and pitchers Jack Keeler and Julian Pichardo. Second-team honorees: Drew Powell as an infielder and Justin Martinez in the outfield.

Javier-Vargas was 2-for-4 with two runs, two RBI, a home run, and a double and Woodside went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Alexi Angelo was 1-of-2, Jake Cace went 1-for-3 with a run, Martinez was 1-of-3 with a run and a walk, Scott went 1-for-2 with two RBI, a run and a home run, and Tavarez went 1-of-3 with two RBI, a run and a home run.

Keeler (0-2) got the start, pitching 1.0+ innings. He surrendered seven runs, four earned on four hits and a walk, with a strikeout. Anthony Anselmo threw an inning, allowing two runs on two hits and a walk with a strikeout. Jacob Laroque pitched 4.0 innings giving up three runs on seven hits and two walks, striking out three.

Carolina would get a run in the first and eight in the second to build an early 9-0 lead.

Scott led off the third with a solo home run, Martinez singled, and Tavarez connected on a two-run home run to center to trim the score to 9-3.

CU got a run back in the third to extend the lead to 10-3.

In the fourth, Chase Davis started the fourth with a walk. He advanced to second on a wild pitch and came around to score on a single by Cace. Angelo singled, moving Cace to third, Scott hit a sacrifice fly to score Cace and Javier-Vargas hit a two-run home run to center to bring the game within three at 10-7.

In the sixth, the Bruins added two runs and took the game 12-7.

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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – University of Fort Lauderdale falls in a midweek matchup to Edward Waters, 78-73, on Tuesday evening inside the James Weldon Johnson Auxiliary Gym.

Kemari Brown paced the Eagles with 20 points, while Benez Woodard scored 16, Jongkor Unguec had 10 and Andre Anderson, Keysean Smith and Trandon Smith scored six points.

Smith grabbed a game-high eight rebounds, Riley grabbed six and Brown, T. Smith, Unguec pulled down five rebounds.

Andre Anderson would have a team-high six assists, with Carl Bigord, Riley and Unguec had one.

Smith blocked three Tiger shots. Delgado collected three steals and Anderson, Brown and Unguec stole one.

The game would start off back-and-forth as both teams were scoring at will early and often. Edward Waters would get ahead by as much as five over the first 10 minutes of play. UFTL would climb back and tie the game at 19-19 with 10:08 to play.

The teams would lockdown each other for the next five minutes, at the 5:31 mark, the teams were tied again at 26-26.

The Eagles would close the half on an 11-2 run, to take a 37-28 lead into the intermission.

EWU came out of the break on a 9-2 run to cut the deficit to 39-37 at the 16:24 mark.

Over the next 6:24, both teams scored 11 points, with the Maroon-and-Gold held a 52-48 lead as the game turn to the final 10 minutes.

The Tigers would take over with a 19-3 run to take a 67-58 lead with five minutes left to play.

UFTL would close out the game with an 12-11 scoring advantage, but fell short as the final buzzer sounded in favor of EWU, 78-83

The Eagles will travel to Temple Terrace, Fla. on Saturday, Feb. 19 to face Florida College at 4 p.m. inside the Conn Gymnasium.

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AVE MARIA, Fla. – The University of Fort Lauderdale baseball team grabs the first win in school history on opening day. The Eagles defeated Ave Maria in come-back fashion with four runs in the top of the ninth inning to win 7-6 at Bowie’s Ballpark.

UFTL’s Chase Davis drove a two-run single in the ninth inning to seal himself in the UFTL Baseball record books for life, leading the Maroon-and-Gold to the victory.

Malichi Woodside’s hit-by-pitch and Tad Stockowski’s walk forced home the other two ninth inning runs for the Eagles.

Jacob Laroque pitched a scoreless ninth inning to earn his first save as an Eagle. Laroque, sit the Gyrenes down in order, recording two flyouts and a ground out. Caleb Rodriguez collected the first win in school history, throwing an inning. Rodriguez allowed a leadoff run before retiring AMU to close out the eighth.

AMU would get on the board first, scoring four runs on a grand slam in the bottom of the first inning.

UFTL would get their first two runs in the sixth inning when Woodside doubled in Justin Martinez, and then he would come around to score on a wild pitch.

In the bottom half of the sixth inning, Ave Maria would get a run back on a solo homerun to stretch their lead to 5-2.

The Maroon-and-Gold were able to push a run across the plate in the eighth inning on a Yabdiel Hernandez infield single to third that scored Aderlyn Cubilete, to trim the score to 5-3.

The Gyrenes would answer back again in the bottom half of the inning on the third Ethan Bergkamp homerun of the game. Bergkamp would be responsible for all six AMU runs on three homeruns.

Davis posted 2-for-4 day with two RBIs and a hit-by-pitch, while Woodside was 1-for-4, scored two runs, drove in two runs and was hit by a pitch.

Erik Scott went 1-for-4 with a run scored, Stockowski was 1-for-4 with an RBI and a walk and Drew Powell was 1-for-3 with a hit-by-pitch.

Hernandez and Christian Tavarez both collected a pinch-hit knock for the Maroon-and-Gold.

Jake Cace, Justin Frias and Lazaro Salazar stole a base on the day.

The Eagles will travel back to Ave Maria to close out the three-game series tomorrow, with the first game starting at 11 am at Bowie’s Ballpark.

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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – University of Fort Lauderdale coach Billy Glessner had the Eagles baseball team geared to open their 50-game baseball schedule for the 2022 season starting Friday.

The Eagles will open with a three-game series at Ave Maria before returning home to open a homestand with a midweek matchup against Atlantis before closing out the week, hosting Trinity Baptist for a three-game series. 

Next up will be two games in Lakeland, Fla., against Southeastern on February 2. UFTL will stay on the road to face off against Webber International in a four-game weekend series. 

After that road swing, the Maroon-and-Gold will host Atlantis in another midweek matchup before closing out the week against Edward Waters in a three-game series.

The Eagles will return the favor and travel to Edward Waters for a midweek doubleheader in Jacksonville, Fla. UFTL will host Atlantis in a three-game weekend series on Feb. 18-19.

The Maroon-and-Gold will travel to Miami Gardens to play Florida Memorial for two-midweek games and close out February with three against Florida National at home. 

Atlantis will visit UFTL on March 1 and then face off against Florida Memorial on the road on March 2 before heading into the Eagles spring break. 

UFTL will return to action when Ave Maria comes to Plantation for a midweek doubleheader on March 22.

Florida National returns to the Eagles home field for a three-game series at the end of March before traveling to Trinity Baptist for a three-game series the first week of April.

The Maroon-and-Gold will host Florida National in one last three-game weekend series on April 15-16.

The Eagles will host Atlantis to close out the home slate on April 18 and then again on April 20 before heading to Toccoa Falls, Ga. For a three-game series at Toccoa Falls.

UFTL will travel at Warner for a doubleheader on April 26 to close out the season. 

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CLINTON, S.C. – The University of Fort Lauderdale football team started off the 2021 campaign by dropping a 68-3 decision to Presbyterian on Saturday, Sept. 11, at Bailey Memorial Stadium.

The Eagles fall to 0-1, while Presbyterian improves 2-0. UFTL will look to bounce back next week against Mississippi College in Clinton, Miss., on Sept. 18.

Qmac Quiteh led the Eagles ground attack rushing for a team-high 35 yards on eight carries, while Craig Cooper had 24 yards on eight attempts. Davon Burgelin hauled in a team-best four catches for 31 yards, while Franco De Luca and Kyle Kaplan combined to go 14-42, as the duo recorded 101 and 47 passing yards, respectively. Hector Molero scored the Eagles’ first three points, making a 25-yard field goal in the first quarter.

Damien Richardson recorded three catches for 14 yards, Zach Hall and Omari Stewart had two receptions for 42 and 41 yards. James Ashley IV made one catch for 14 yards and Nick Holmes had one catch for six yards.

Jamar Wells led UFTL’s defensive efforts recording a team-high nine tackles, including two solo tackles and one tackle for loss. Sayquan Anthony and Elijah Volitore collected eight tackles, while Jordan Alexander, Ramone Daley, David Bryant, Marvinsky Brunelus and Ritchard Antoine had seven, six, six, six and five tackles, respectively. Anthony and Bryant snagged an interception, while Antoine, Chris Jones II, and Wells had a tackle for loss, while Brunelus and Saron Byes had 0.5 TFL.

The Blue Host grabbed the lead early, scoring on their first three possessions and converting two two-point attempts to build a 22-0 lead with 9:19 to play in the first quarter.

UFTL would put together an eight-play 34-yard drive over five minutes and 24 seconds, capping the drive with a Molero field goal, cutting into the Presbyterian lead 22-3.

The two teams would stop each other in three alternating drives. The Eagles would stop the Blue Hose from scoring, turning the ball over on the UFTL two-yard line, Presbyterian would capitalize on defense forcing a safety, then after the free-kick, they would score another touchdown to extend their lead to 31-3.

Both teams would stall on drives ending with an interception before Presbyterian would close out the half by forcing the second safety of the game for the Eagles and then scoring a touchdown on a 75-yard drive to take a 40-3 lead into the break.

UFTL would start with the ball in the second half, driving into the red zone before De Luca is picked off at the goal line and returned for a 98-yard touchdown, giving the Blue Hose a 47-3 lead. That score would be the only change on the scoreboard as both team’s defenses stiffened up.

Presbyterian would score three touchdowns in the final frame to close out the 68-3 win for the Blue Hose.

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Today we got to visit with Chris Chambers, the new head coach at the University of Fort Lauderdale. He talked about how he stepped into the position and what’s happening with the program now.

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