Clemson Women’s Soccer Program Announces 2013 Schedule

CLEMSON, SC – The Clemson women’s soccer program’s 2013 schedule was announced by Head Coach Eddie Radwanski on Monday.  With the addition of three teams to the perennially powerful Atlantic Coast Conference, the Tigers will play 13 league games and only six games out-of-conference in 2013. Eleven of the Tigers’ 19 opponents played in the NCAA Tournament in 2012, and nine of the 11 won at least one game in the tournament.

In addition, four of Clemson’s 2013 opponents played in the NCAA Elite Eight, two reached the College Cup, and North Carolina won the national title last season.  Seven teams on the Tigers’ schedule for this fall were ranked in the top 16 in the 2012 final national poll.

“This schedule is exciting, intriguing, and certainly presents a lot of challenges,” noted Radwanski, who is beginning his third season at the helm of the program.  “The majority of our opponents played in the NCAA Tournament last year, including North Carolina, which won the national title as a No. 2 seed after finishing fourth in the ACC.  That in itself shows how difficult our conference is.

“The additions to the ACC of Syracuse, Pittsburgh and Notre Dame – a team that is a perennial national power and has won national championships – just further elevates the quality and strength of our conference.  With the new teams, and the fact that everybody is playing everybody in the conference this year, this will definitely be the toughest schedule we have played since we have been here.

“We also have a more challenging nonconference schedule this fall, as we have added games against Auburn and South Florida, in addition to our regular opponents of South Carolina and Furman.  With the large group of freshmen coming in and such a young team to begin with, we wanted to challenge ourselves with better quality opponents in order to test ourselves prior to getting into the ACC season.”

The Tigers will play 11 games at home at Historic Riggs Field and eight games on the road in 2013.  The team will play one exhibition game during the preseason, as it will meet Alabama on Saturday, August 17 in Kennesaw, GA.

Clemson will open the 2013 season on Friday, August 23 on the road against Auburn, a 2012 NCAA Tournament team that also played in the SEC title game a season ago.  The Tigers will open their home schedule against Furman on Sunday, August 25, before traveling to Tampa, FL to face South Florida on Friday, August 30.

The Tigers will play seven home games and just one on the road in the month of September.  On Friday, September 6, the team will play host to South Carolina.  In the rivalry game last season, the Tigers defeated the Gamecocks on the road in Columbia by a score of 1-0 in double overtime.  Clemson will play host to Davidson on Sunday, September 8.

The 2013 ACC season will begin on Thursday, September 12 when the Tigers will play host to Maryland.  On Sunday, September 15 and Thursday, September 19, Clemson will face Boston College and Pittsburgh, also at Historic Riggs Field.  The team’s string of six consecutive home games will conclude on Sunday, September 22 with a nonconference game against Alabama A&M.  The Tigers will make their first trip to Syracuse, NY on Thursday, September 26 before returning home to face 2012 College Cup finalist Florida State on Sunday, September 29.

Clemson will open the month of October with a road trip through the state of Virginia, and will face Virginia Tech on Thursday, October 3 and Virginia on Sunday, October 6.  The team will then travel to Raleigh, NC to take on NC State on Sunday, October 13.  The Tigers will play host to Duke, which advanced to the NCAA Quarterfinals in 2012, and Wake Forest on Thursday, October 17 and Sunday, October 20, respectively, before traveling to Chapel Hill, NC to face defending NCAA National Champion North Carolina on Thursday, October 24.

The Tigers will meet Notre Dame for the first time in program history on Sunday, October 27 at Historic Riggs Field.  The team will honor its seven seniors in the game against the Fighting Irish, who advanced to the NCAA Quarterfinals in 2012.  Clemson will conclude the regular season on the road against Miami on Thursday, October 31.

The quarterfinal round of the 2013 ACC Championships will be played at the campus sites of the No. 1-4-seeded teams on Sunday, November 3.  The conference tournament semifinal and final rounds will be held at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, NC for the sixth straight year.  The two semifinal games will be played on Friday, November 8 and the tournament will conclude with the title game on Sunday, November 10.