Clemson Soccer: So Many Goals, So Little Time.

Women’s Soccer (9-4-1) - #16

#16 Clemson 4 - Syracuse 1

The 16th ranked Tigers were in desperate need of a confidence boost with only 4 games remaining in the regular season, and they found one against Syracuse. The Tigers dominated Cuse, out-shooting the Orange 24-4. This isn’t unusual for Clemson, but managing to push 4 goals across was a welcome, and unfamiliar occurrence.

Renee Guion opened the scoring in the 33rd minute with her first goal of the season. Guion leads the Tigers in assists, but those usually come from her pinpoint accurate crosses. It was nice to see her put one in the net. The fact that it was on a beautiful upper 90 shot only made it that much better. Abby Hanks, continued the trend of first goals, coming off the bench and finding the back of the net in the 41st minute. It will be interesting to see how much Hanks is used going forward, the diminutive defender gives Clemson more attacking options out of the back. Since the attacking options in the front aren’t particularly prolific, perhaps it’s time to give up a little defensive ability in the back to bolster the offense.

The second half saw more unlikely goal scorers on the stat sheet for the Tigers. Kimber Haley netted her second goal of the year in the 61st minute and Patrice DiPasquale finished up the scoring in the 64th minute with her first of the year. Clemson found goals in unusual places against the Orange, and that may be the recipe moving forward. It doesn’t matter who scores, as long as someone is able to put goals on the board.

That said, I’m not sure what we saw against Syracuse is sustainable against better squads. Clemson was able to overwhelm the Orange, and the talent gap between the two teams was obvious. It’s a disappointing that Courtney Jones and Julie Mackin couldn’t get into the act, because generally speaking, you need your forwards to score. I’ll give Spackmaier a break because she only managed 28 minutes in the blow out, but Clemson’s front line has to start producing now if they want to make noise in both the ACC and NCAA tournament.

Beggars, however, can’t be choosers. I’ll take 4 goals all day, every day.

Next Game (s)

Thursday, October 24th @ Miami - 7 PM

Sunday, October 27th @ Historic Riggs Field vs Pitt - 1 PM

Men’s Team (10-1-1) - #8

Clemson 7 - Syracuse 4

The 8th ranked Clemson Tigers are becoming college soccer’s version of the college football’s Oklahoma Sooners. They might give up a few goals, but that doesn’t matter when your burning out lights on the scoreboard.

Robbie Robinson dominated the match from the opening whistle, tapping in his first goal on a beautiful assist in the 4th minute of the game, and then following up with his second goal in the 27th minute where he skinned a defender alive and then slotted the ball past the helpless goal keeper. He finished his second hat trick of the season in the 86th minute off an assist from Grayson Barber. All told, Robinson took 6 shots, 4 of which were on target, put up a hat trick, and contributed an assist.

That’s a crazy stat line.

Robinson isn’t the only Tiger on a heater, as Grayson Barber contributed 2 more goals to the cause, finishing off a Kimarni Smith assist in the 30th minute to put the Tigers up 3-0 on a incredible sliding goal and finding net once against in the 60th minute to make the 4-1. If Robinson wasn’t such a dominant force, people would be talking more about Barber’s incredible season. Clemson’s offense is truly firing on all cylinders at the moment.

I’ve accounted for 5 goals between Robinson and Barber, but that leaves two more unaccounted for. Mohamed Seye laid claim to the first Clemson goal in the second half, pounding in a header off a corner and Adrian Nunez found the net in the 82nd minute off a Robinson assist.

Next Game(s)

Tuesday, October 22nd @ Historic Riggs Field vs Radford - 7 PM

Friday, October 25th @ Historic Riggs Field vs Boston College - 7 PM