Soccer Roundup - A Mixed Bag

Men’s Recap

1-0 Defeat vs Wake Forest

Clemson United played a hard-fought game against the Demon Deacons. but after a red card sent Arthur Duquenne off the pitch and left the Tigers a man down, Wake immediately capitalized and scored off a set piece just outside the box. Despite playing aggressively with several corners and four shots on goal, Clemson would not be able to bring the score level and left with a 1-0 loss.

Any time you go down a man in a match, it requires patience and expert vision to find the counterattack for a score. Clemson opted to run a 4-4-1 with the 10-player adjustment, sliding Shawn Smart to the left back position and adding freshman Okunlola to the right side of the field. The objective to find an opportunity to score in transition materialized several times, but the Tigers ultimately couldn’t find the back of the net.

This one hurts and definitely feels like it got away from the Tigers (sound familiar?), but they did what they could down a man in the second half. Wake keeper Trace Aphin played an outstanding game, recording a clean sheet to stifle any chance of Clemson finding the draw.

Women’s Recap

5-0 Victory vs Miami

Five different Tigers managed to score in the road match and the Lady Tigers easily put away any hope of a Miami upset. After a lightning delay pushed kickoff back, Clemson came out firing fast in the 9’ with freshman Jenna Tobia lofting a ball from outside the box past the Miami keeper.

Clemson would find the net twice more before the end of the first 45 minutes, adding two more goals in the second half to push their comfortable lead to the final 5-0 score. Utter domination by the Tigers throughout this match earned the big win, with Halle Mackiewicz picking up her seventh clean sheet of the season.

2-0 Victory vs Boston College

A second road match would yield further success for the women and an eight shutout on the year for keeper Mackiewicz and the rest of the defense. Mackenzie Duff recorded her first-career brace (two goals in a match) for the only scoring of the night and kept the winning streak alive for the women’s team.

On a night where it poured rain for much of the match, Clemson dominated the time of possession and never let the Eagles take a shot on goal (Halle Mackiewicz leads the nation in clean sheets). Both of Mackenzie Duff’s goals came on headers off corner kicks, making all four of her scores this year headers:

Upcoming Matches

After the disappointing loss at Wake, Clemson United returns home this Friday to face the surging Virginia Tech Hokies, who started just 0-2-3 but have now found two straight victories, including a big upset over #5 Louisville.

The women’s team will also get a home matchup this Saturday against a struggling Syracuse squad that has no wins against P5 competition.