Clemson Soccer Advances to College Cup

The Clemson Tigers defeated the Maryland Terrapins in penalty kicks to advance to the program's eighth overall Collegiate Cup!

The first half of the game was a back and forth affair with Maryland creating the best chances. The Terps are a much different team than Santa Barbara was. While the Gauchos were aggressive and tried to speed up the pace of the game, Maryland was content to slow the pace down and break up possession. Maryland was actually able to control the game for a decent part of the first half, methodically controlling possession and seeking to control the midfield defensively to frustrate Clemson.

The second half was more favorable to Clemson but Maryland still had some dangerous chances. Andrew Tarbell was called into action more than once. He, and the Tiger backline, made some crucial saves throughout the game. The Tigers scored the first goal of the game. Diego Campos passed it to Oliver Shannon at the top of the box, who then knocked a nifty little back heel to Thales Moreno on a darting run, and then Moreno slotted it past the keeper.

Maryland was able to equalize later on in the half. Kyle Fisher got hurt when he blocked a shot and had to come out for a brief amount of time. In the ensuing couple of minutes, Maryland was able to take advantage of Fisher's absence and score off a corner kick.

Clemson had a very good chance to win the game off a corner kick with less than 30 seconds left. Maryland's keeper tried to collect the cross but the ball pinballed around in the six yard box, but the Terps blocked a couple of shots off the line. The game then went into overtime tied at 1-1. Not much happened in the first half of overtime but Maryland had a player sent off in the second half for accumulating two yellow cards. Clemson had another chance to win the game, but once again, Maryland was able to block the shot on the goal line.

The two periods of overtime didn't produce a winner so the game went into penalty kicks. Iman Mafi, TJ Casner, and Thales Moreno scored for the Tigers, while Andrew Tarbell blocked two shots (Maryland also missed one completely over the bar.) Moreno's goal was the winner, and now the Tigers are off to Kansas City for the College Cup.

Clemson will play the winner of Boston College-Syracuse game. The other side of the bracket is Wake Forest-Stanford and Creighton-Akron.