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No. 23 Clemson Faces No. 3 North Carolina In ACC Semifinal on Friday In Cary

CLEMSON, S.C. – The 23rd-ranked Clemson women’s soccer team is set to travel to Cary, N.C. to face the third-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels on Friday, Nov. 2 at 5:30 p.m. in the semifinals of the ACC Soccer Championship.

Match Information:
Who: No. 23/No. 5 seed Clemson Tigers vs. No. 3/No. 1 seed North Carolina Tar Heels
When: Friday, Nov. 2 at 5:30 p.m.
Where: WakeMed Soccer Park, Cary, N.C.
Follow: @ClemsonWSoccer on Twitter and Instagram
Watch Live: http://www.espn.com/watch/_/id/3453200/acc-womens-soccer-tournament

Clemson Notes:

  • The Tigers earned its seventh road victory and third upset win of the season as they defeated No. 19 Boston College 1-0 in the ACC quarterfinals on Sunday, Oct. 28.
  • Sophomore forward Mariana Speckmaier now leads the team in scoring with 21 points as she netted her 10th goal of the season in the 19th minute on Sunday against the Eagles.
  • Speckmaier, a Miami native, earned the season’s final ACC Offensive Player of the Week honors, her second of the season, after netting two game-winning goals for the Tigers last week.
  • Speckmaier leads the conference and is tied for fourth nationally in game-winning goals (6) and is tied for second in the conference with 10 goals.
  • Senior defender Sam Staab is second in the conference and tied fourth in the country in assists per game (.69) and is second in the conference with 11 assists.
  • Staab was the only collegiate player called up to the U.S. U23 Women’s National Team for the 2018 Nordic Tournament that took place from Aug. 29-Sept. 3. The San Diego, Calif. native scored the team’s game-winning goal in the 1-0 win over Norway to secure the USA’s first-place finish.
  • Eleven different players have scored at least one goal for the Tigers so far in 2018, and six of those 11 have scored two or more goals on the season.
  • Junior goalkeeper Sandy MacIver has played 1,369 minutes in goal in 15 contests for the Tigers. She has 47 saves and a .797 save percentage, while allowing just 12 goals for a 0.79 goals against average. MacIver also has eight solo shutouts on the season. Her shutouts per game (.53) ranks second in the ACC while her eight solo shutouts is tied for second. The two-year starter in goal is fourth in the program’s record book with 13 career shutouts.
  • The Winsford, England native missed the first four matches of the season as she was in France, where she represented England’s women’s national team and earned a bronze medal at the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup.
SamStaab3

North Carolina Notes:

  • The third-ranked Tar Heels enter the match with an 11-match win streak, dating back to Sept. 14 when they defeated then-No. 2 Florida State, 1-0. North Carolina is 16-2-1 on the season, falling 1-0 at No. 12 Santa Clara on Sept. 7 and 2-1 at No. 1 Stanford in overtime on Sept. 9. North Carolina is coming off a 7-0 win over Pitt to close out the regular season.
  • Sophomore forward Alessia Russo leads the team in goals (6) while tacking on four assists for 16 points, but suffered a broken leg in UNC’s 1-0 win over Wake Forest in the regular-season finale. Redshirt sophomore forward Taylor Otto leads the team in assists (6) and has netted five goals, giving her 16 total points on the season as well.
  • North Carolina has had 15 different players score at least one goal so far this season, and 10 of those 15 have scored two or more goals on the season.
  • Nineteen Tar Heels have at least one assist, and 13 of those 19 have two or more.
  • North Carolina is sixth in the country in goals against average (.42), allowing only eight goals this season.
  • Senior goalkeeper Samantha Leshnak is 10-0-0 in her 1,080 minutes in net for the Tar Heels. She leads the nation in goals against average (.17), allowing only two goals this season, and her .923 save percentage ranks third in the country.

Series Notes:

  • The Tar Heels have a 32-1-1 record all-time against the Tigers, a series that dates back to 1994, the inaugural season for the Clemson program.
  • The last meeting between the two teams was at Historic Riggs Field on Sept. 23, where North Carolina scored the game-winning goal in the 25th minute to defeat the Tigers 1-0.
  • The one Clemson win in the series came in 2000, a 2-1 win at Riggs Field on Sept. 13. The Tigers went on to be ACC Regular Season Champions that year.

For complete coverage of the Clemson women’s soccer, follow @ClemsonWSoccer on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.