BLACKSBURG, Va. - The No. 3 Clemson Tigers (11-2-2, 5-1-1 ACC) finished with a 2-2 draw at Virginia Tech (7-5-3, 3-2-2 ACC) on Sunday afternoon. The Tigers ended the afternoon with a 21-7 shot advantage against the Hokies, with six of the shots on goal. In total, 14 of Clemson’s shots came in the second half.
The Hokies took a 1-0 lead after capitalizing on a corner kick 4’ into the match. The Tigers wouldn’t find the equalizer until the 28’ when senior Martin Bakken drew a foul inside the 18-yard box to set up a golden opportunity penalty kick for Clemson. Gyan stepped up to take the penalty kick and tapped the ball over the Hokies' keeper to the middle of the net to even the match at 1-1 and record his team-leading 12th goal of the season.
Clemson built off of the momentum and took the 2-1 lead with a goal in the 41’ as Alessio Andreottola and Jake Basinet connected on the right side of the field. Floki Stephensen intercepted the ball at the midfield line to dish it out to Duncan Wilson who quickly found Basinet on the left side of the field. Basinet moved the ball to the top of the box and passed it over to Andreottola’s left foot who was able to float the ball over Virginia Tech’s goalkeeper into the back left corner to give Clemson the advantage at the half.
The Hokies leveled the match in the 67’. After VT crossed the ball into the middle of the box, a scramble had the ball pingponging around and finished with a Hokies’ goal by Chase Vazquez. The Tigers finished the second half with 14 shots, including shots from Andreottola, Wilson, Remi Okunlola, Cooper Hineline and Mason Jimenez, but none were able to find the back of the net, resulting in the 2-2 draw.
With one game of the regular season remaining, the Tigers sit second in the ACC with 16 points, trailing only SMU (19 points) and sitting one point ahead of Wake Forest (15 points). All three teams will conclude their ACC slate on Oct. 30 with Clemson battling the No. 15 Demon Deacons, and top-ranked SMU matching up against No. 10 Louisville.
Up Next
Clemson’s final regular-season match will be marked by a match on Friday, Oct. 30 at 7 p.m. at Historic Riggs Field against Wake Forest on ACCNX. The game will serve as an “Operation 6K,” and fans can grab their tickets to the game using this link. Live stats will be available on ClemsonTigers.com.