Senior Salute: Ameera Abdullah
Tuesday, October 7, 2008 | Soccer
Playing in her last soccer season at the University of Florida, senior standout Ameera Abdullah is hoping to make this year one her best yet. Since starting her collegiate career, Ameera has accumulated several honors, including 2006 All-America and All-Southeastern Conference honors as a junior and sophomore. The Gators have advanced to the NCAA Championship each of the past three seasons, reaching the NCAA Round of 16 in 2006 and 2007. In addition, Abdullah is part of the U.S U-23 National Team player pool, participating in three team events in the spring of 2008.
On the Gator career chart, Abdullah currently is ninth all-time with 58 career points (21 goals, 16 assists), impressive numbers especially considering injuries sidelined the speedy midfielder during a portion of her freshman and junior seasons. Abdullah missed a significant part of her freshman season with a stress fracture when a goalkeeper landed on her left foot and she also lost some playing time as a junior due to a left tendon strain which she suffered in a collision with another goalkeeper. However, her 2008 season has started on the right track. Through the Oct. 5 match at Kentucky, Abdullah leads UF with 15 points off of four goals and a team-high seven assists.
Abdullah still sees soccer as having a big part of her life after she graduates in the summer of 2009 with a degree in recreation-event management. She wants to play professional soccer after college. “I hope to play with the women's league, which is coming back,” Abdullah said. “I'm also hoping to be called up to play with the U.S. Women's National team someday and thereafter go into coaching.”
In addition to playing professional soccer in the United States, Abdullah also welcomes the chance to play overseas if the opportunity ever comes up. However, despite where she ends up, one thing she is definitely sure of is that she will never forget playing at the University of Florida.
| Abdullah's Collegiate Statistics | ||||||
| Year | GP/GS | Min. | Shots | G (GW) | A | Pts. |
| 2005 | 13/11 | 928 | 19 | 2 (2) | 2 | 6 |
| 2006 | 25/25 | 2103 | 63 | 11 (4) | 2 | 24 |
| 2007 | 21/18 | 1432 | 48 | 4 (0) | 5 | 13 |
| 2008 | 12/12 | 1010 | 19 | 4 (1) | 7 | 15 |
| Totals | 71/66 | 5473 | 149 | 21 (7) | 16 | 58 |
“I will always cherish getting a chance to play every weekend because not many people get that opportunity,” Abdullah said. “It's just always exciting to play under the lights on a Friday night and then under the scorching heat on a Sunday afternoon. We set goals each season and maybe we don't reach every one of them, but being a part of this team and working toward those goals has always been a privilege."
In her reminiscence of things that she will always remember about her stint at the University of Florida, friendships made the top of her list as she mentions various past and present friends and acquaintances that she has met since she moved to Gainesville. Her adjustment to the warm weather came in as a close second as she now concludes that after living in Gainesville for about three and a half years, she would prefer to live in the state of Florida after graduation as opposed to returning to her cold and snowy hometown of Denver, Colo.
Abdullah offers a bit of advice to future Gator soccer players.
"Work hard, try to get better everyday and don't take anything for granted.”
By Babajide Ogunjobi, University of Florida Communications
