Lady Tigers Defeat NC State 5-2 in Women’s ACC Tournament

Nov. 7, 2002

TALLAHASSEE, FL-Deliah Arrington scored two goals and teammate Rachel Gallegos scored one goal and had one assist in leading Clemson to a 5-2 win N.C. State in the first round of the ACC Women’s Soccer Tournament at Tallahassee, FL Thursday afternoon.

Clemson is 13-6 on the year. The Lady Tigers finished the season 4-3 in the ACC and are the second seed in the tournament. Clemson will play the winner of the Virginia-Duke match at 5:00 p.m. Friday evening. Duke and Virginia will play later this afternoon.

Clemson is ranked 12th by Soccer America and 14th by the NSCAA. In the soccertimes.com poll, the Lady Tigers are ranked 25. Clemson is ranked 23rd by soccerbuzz.com. The Lady Tigers took a 2-0 advantage behind Arrington’s two goals. She was assisted by Paige Ledford and Gallegos.

Arrington who was named the ACC Player-of-the-Year now has 17 goals and seven assists for 41 points. N.C. State scored early in the second half (46:35) when Jordan Allison scored with an assist by Jenny Pearce.

Clemson answered back at the 49:16 mark as Gallegos scored an unassisted goal. The Lady Tigers’ Cindy Mullinix scored at the 60:06 point in the game with an assist by Allison Mitchell. Mullinix scored on a header from eight yards out. Sarah Heck scored her second goal of the season for Clemson as she stuck a rebounded shot in the net at the 70:57 mark and gave Clemson a 5-1 advantage. N.C. State’ Annika Schmidt scored from 20 yards out on a free kick at the 81:04 mark.

Quotes from Clemson Women’s Soccer Coach Todd Bramble

“It started out as a typical ACC match. You don’t expect to score five goals in any ACC matches, let alone a conference tournament match where the intensity is picked up another level. It helped us out a lot playing NC. State two weeks ago because we were able to make some adjustments. We put on a great performance and scored some great goals and our execution of the game play on both sides of the ball was very good today.”

Deliah Arrington, Clemson Forward

“I got some good crosses and good assists from my teammates today. All I had to do was put my foot on the ball. I thought going into the tournament, that this would be a tough game since we played them a few weeks ago. It was a little surprising that we came away with that huge of a win.”

Heather Beem, Clemson Forward

“We’re pretty excited to be moving on and coming out with such a big win. We played them a couple of weeks ago in a tough match. We’re excited to come out with a big win and get our whole team on the field, get us some rest and get everyone some playing time. We came out, played a good game and we’ll be ready for tomorrow.”

Clemson 5, N.C. State 2

Clemson-Deliah Arrington (Paige Ledford) 15:18 Clemson-Deliah Arrington (Rachel Gallegos) 44:43 N.C. State-Jordan Allison (Jenny Pearce) 46:35 Clemson-Rachel Gallegos (Unassisted) 49:16 Clemson-Cindy Mullinix (Allison Mitchell) 60:06 Clemson-Sarah Heck (Unassisted) 70:57 N.C. State-Annika Schmidt (Unassisted) 81:04

Shots: Clemson 16, N.C. State 9 Corner Kicks: Clemson 6, N.C. State Saves: Lauren Heos (CU) 1, Gretchen Lear (NCS) 3 Fouls: Clemson 11, N.C. State 10 Attendance: TBD