Clemson Defeats Virginia 3-2 In Overtime

Oct. 13, 2002

CLEMSON, SC – Dimelon Westfield scored with 8:32 left to go in the second overtime period in leading fourth-ranked Clemson to a 3-2 win over Virginia in an Atlantic Coast Conference men’s soccer match at Clemson, SC Sunday afternoon.

Virginia’s Alecko Eskandarian had an assist and goal in the match.

With the win, Clemson improves to 9-1-1 overall, and 2-1 in the ACC. The Tigers have won seven matches in a row. Virginia falls to 6-5-1 overall and 1-3 in league play. Clemson is ranked fourth by Soccer America and ninth by the NSCAA. The Tigers are also ranked fifth by soccertimes.com.

Westfield has now scored 12 goals in the last seven matches. He has scored in seven consecutive matches.

Clemson took a 2-0 lead in the first 31 minutes of the game. The Tigers Andre Borges scored in the first minute of play at the :58 mark. Justin Moore and Steven Rhyne were credited with the assists. This was Borges’ third goal of the year.

The Tigers’ Dwayne Jones scored his first goal of his Clemson career at the 30:39 point with an assist by Kenneth Cutler.

The Cavaliers got back in the game as Eskandarian scored his 15th goal of the season from a pass by Ryan Kelly at the 54:34 mark. Three minutes later, Ryan Gibbs tied the score 2-2 with his third goal of the season with an assist by Eskandarian.

Westfield scored the game winner at the 101:28 mark with an assist by John Cooper. This was Westfield’s 14th goal of the season.

“I was obviously very proud of the way we came back,” said Clemson Head Coach Trevor Adair. At halftime, I told our players that we will have to weather some storms, and we did in the second half as we had to withstand a lot of pressure. I am happy with the win. We showed a lot of character and we had people to step up because of our injuries. Again we showed characters and fought like Tigers. I am so happy that we adjusted and found a way to win. We dug down deep and found what it took to win.”

CLEMSON 3, VIRGINIA 2 Clemson-Andre Borges (Justin Moore, Steven Rhyne) :58 Clemson-Dwayne Jones (Kenneth Cutler) 30:39 Virginia-Alecko Eskandarian (Ryan Kelly) 54:34 Virginia-Ryan Gibbs (Alecko Eskandarian) 57:34 Clemson-Dimelon Westfield (John Cooper) 101:28

Shots: Clemson 15, Virginia 22 Corner Kicks: Clemson 8, Virginia 6 Saves: Doug Warren (CU) 9, David Comfort (V) 3 Fouls: Clemson 19, Virginia 26 Attendance: 2612