Clemson Faces Pitt on Friday

CLEMSON, S.C. – The Clemson men’s soccer team is set for a Friday road matchup with conference foe Pitt at Ambrose Urbanic Field. The match marks just the fourth meeting between the two teams, a series in which Tigers have outscored the Panthers 7-0.

Pitt Match Information
Who: Clemson Tigers (5-4-1; 0-3-0 ACC) vs. Pitt Panthers (5-5-0, 1-3-0 ACC)
When: Friday, Oct. 5 at 7 p.m.
Where: Ambrose Urbanic Field // Pittsburgh, Pa.
Watch: http://www.espn.com/watch/_/id/3436449/clemson-vs-pittsburgh-m-soccer
Live Stats: https://pittsburghpanthers.com/sidearmstats/msoc/summary

Clemson Notes:

• Clemson most recently saw action on Tuesday night in a 3-1 home win over College of Charleston. Adrian Nuñez netted a pair of goals for the second time this season, and Andrew Burnikel added his first goal of 2018 in the final minute of the matchup to seal the 3-1 victory. Freshman keeper George Marks made his first career start at Historic Riggs Field, allowing the one goal against two saves while playing all 90 minutes.
• Nuñez leads the team with five goals on the year, good for 10 points and tied for sixth-best in the conference. However, the Tigers have had a variety of players contributing to scoring this season, with 14 players tallying at least one point so far.
• Aside from Nuñez and Burnikel, seven Tigers have all found the back of the net at least once this season: Tanner Dieterich (2), Grayson Barber (1), Patrick Bunk-Andersen (1), Malick Mbaye (1), Quinn McNeill (1), John Murphy Jr. (1) and Kimarni Smith (1).
• Barber, Burnikel, Nate Hall, Johnny Heckman, Justin Malou, Chris Matlashewski, Smith and Cale Thorne have all added at least one assist.
• While Marks played in goal on Tuesday, keeper Jonny Sutherland has seen the majority of action for the Tigers, totaling 20 saves against 11 goals allowed in 707 minutes over eight matches. Marks also saw action in the Tigers’ Sept. 9 matchup with UMass, playing all 110 minutes of the double-overtime match and saving two shots while allowing no goals in his collegiate debut. Nolan Lennon played the final 11 minutes of the Tigers’ Sept. 18 match against Furman and allowed one goal.
• The Tigers are led by team captains Bunk-Andersen and Dieterich.

Pitt Notes:

• The Cougars most recently saw action in a 1-0 home win over Columbia on Tuesday night. Sophomore defender Jose Luis Sena Arbona headed in his first goal of the season in the 78^th minute of a lightning-delayed match to propel the Panthers the victory.
• Sophomore forward Edward Kizza leads the team with six goals, good for 12 points and tied for fourth in the conference.
• Other Panthers finding the back of the net this season include Marcony Pimentel (2), Javi Perez (2), Robby Dambrot (1), Fiorre Mane (1) and Jackson Walti (1).
• Freshman keeper Johan Penaranda has seen the majority of action in goal for Pitt, allowing nine goals against 21 saves in 808 minutes over nine matches. Fellow freshman Alexander Steinbach played the full 90 minutes of the Panthers’ 1-0 win over VCU on Sept. 12 and made five saves to maintain a clean sheet. Rounding out the keeper minutes for Pitt is redshirt junior Jacob Rooth, who saw action in 22 minutes of Pitt’s 6-1 win over Delware on Aug. 27 and saved one shot.

Series Notes:

• The Tigers and Panthers most recently met last September at Historic Riggs Field, and then-ranked No. 8 Clemson emerged with a 3-0 win.
• The 2017 matchup was just the third in the series between the two teams (2013, 2014), and Clemson has won all three times.
• The Panthers are yet to find the back of the net against the Tigers, with Clemson outscoring Pitt 7-0 over the three matches.

For complete coverage of the Clemson men’s soccer team, follow @ClemsonMSoccer on Twitter and Instagram, and @ClemsonMensSoccer on Facebook.