Tigers Drop 2-1 Battle to FSU
CLEMSON, S.C. - The No. 23 Clemson Tigers (6-3-3, 2-2-1 ACC) dropped a tightly contested, 2-1, matchup against Florida State (5-1-3, 1-0-2 ACC) on Sunday afternoon at Historic Riggs Field. The Tigers’ lone goal came off the head of sophomore Juju Harris and was assisted by sophomore Jolie Jenkins.
“We got off to a little bit of a slow start today.” Said Head Coach Eddie Radwanski. “That ended up working against us, and we got punished. We did well to get ourselves back in the game and created more opportunities. I felt like we didn’t make some of the best decisions. We could have been a little bit better in certain areas. If you do that in the ACC, you’ll get nicked, and that’s what happened today. Florida state was able to punish us. They were able to manage their lead as the game went on, and we didn’t put away our chances and opportunities when we got them, and that’s the game. That’s what happens in the conference. We’ve got to brush ourselves off and get ready for next week.”
In the match, Clemson edged the Seminoles in total shots with a 10-9 advantage, but Florida State finished with a 5-4 advantage in shots on goal and 5-4 corner kick edge. Seven of the Seminoles total shots came in the opening 45’, while Clemson had an evenly spread offense with five in each half.
Florida State scored twice in the first ten minutes of play on Sunday afternoon. Sam Erbach netted a shot to the bottom right corner of the net, past a diving Nona Reason to give the Seminoles a 1-0 lead in the 7’. Wrianna Hudson followed with a goal in the 10’ to extend the Florida State lead to 2-0.
Clemson cut the lead in half in the 20’, with Harris heading the ball past Kate Ockene following a free kick from Jenkins to make it 2-1 in FSU’s favor heading into halftime.
The Tigers pushed the tempo in an attempt to level the match in the first nine minutes of the second half with shots on goal from Dani Davis and Natalie Brooks that were both saved, and an off-target shot from Carla Small. Harris made two more attempts to strike for Clemson, including her final look in the 85’, but Ockene was able to make the save to secure FSU’s 2-1 victory.
Up Next
The Tigers continue their home stretch on Saturday, Oct. 10, at 6 p.m. for an Alumni Day match vs. Louisville. Clemson will recognize returning alumni, including the 2016 ACC Regular Season Championship team, during the match. Admission is free and open to the public. The match will also be streamed live on ACCNX.