No. 2 Seed Tigers Host No. 15 Seed UCSB in NCAA Sweet 16 Sunday

Match Information:

What: 2015 NCAA Sweet 16Who: No. 2 National Seed Clemson Tigers (16-2-2) vs. UC Santa Barbara (14-6-2)When: Sunday, Nov. 29 at 6 p.m.Where: Historic Riggs Field, Clemson, S.C.RPI: Clemson – No. 2; UC Santa Barbara – No. 17NSCAA Rankings: Clemson – No. 3; UC Santa Barbara – No. 22Follow: @ClemsonMSoccer on Twitter and InstagramLive Video: ESPN3 (http://es.pn/1MAHg29)Live Stats: ClemsonTigers.com (http://www.cstv.com/gametracker/launch/?event=1476382&school=fo&sport=msoccer&) Tickets: (http://bit.ly/MSOCNCAA15Rd3)  

Clemson Team Notes:

• The Tigers have advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 a total of 24 times, including 2014 and 2015, two consecutive seasons under Head Coach Mike Noonan.
• This is Clemson’s 29^th all-time appearance in the NCAA Tournament, which puts the program in ninth-place nationally in terms of all-time NCAA Tournament appearances.
• The program has a 49-52-2 all-time record in the NCAA Tournament, and, with its 49 wins in tournament play, is sixth in NCAA Tournament history in that category.
• The Tigers have reached the NCAA College Cup seven times in program history. Two of those seasons, 1984 and 1987, Clemson won the national title.
• In the 2014 NCAA Tournament, after earning a first-round bye, the Tigers defeated Coastal Carolina 2-1 in the Second Round, before falling to North Carolina 2-1 in the Round of 16.
• Clemson is coming off a 5-2 victory over Elon in the NCAA Second Round on Nov. 22 at Historic Riggs Field. Senior forward T.J. Casner scored two goals and added one assist against the Phoenix, while junior defender Iman Mafi contributed one goal and three assists to the Tiger effort.
• The team is ranked in the top four in the nation in six scoring categories – first in assists per game (2.30), second in points per game (14.40), third in scoring office (2.40) and total assists (46) and fourth in total goals (48) and total points (142).
• Clemson is second in the RPI rankings released on Sunday, Nov. 15.  Five of the top seven teams in the RPI are from the ACC (No. 1 Wake Forest, No. 3 Syracuse, No. 4 North Carolina and No. 7 Notre Dame).

Clemson Player Notes:

• Senior T.J. Casner leads the team in goals (10) and points (24). The 10 goals put him in third in the ACC, while his goals per game average of 0.50 is also third in the conference.
• Casner has a team-best six game-winning goals, a figure which ranks first in the ACC and fifth in the nation in that statistical category.
• Five other Tigers have at least 10 points on the season, redshirt senior Kyle Murphy (18), junior Austen Burnikel (16), junior Iman Mafi (16), sophomore Oliver Shannon (13) and sophomore Diego Campos (10).
• 11 players have scored at least one goal for Clemson so far this season, while 17 have tallied at least one assist.
• Redshirt junior goalkeeper Andrew Tarbell is 16-2-2 in goal for the Tigers, registering 67 saves and allowing just 15 goals on the season, while playing over 1,834 minutes in the net.
• Tarbell’s 67 saves are the most in the ACC, while his save percentage of .817 and goals against average of 0.736 are both third in the conference.
• Tarbell also has eight solo shutouts on the season, a figure which is tied for first among all keepers in the ACC.

UC Santa Barbara Notes:

• UC Santa Barbara is 14-6-2 overall and finished 7-2-1 in regular season play in the Big West.
• The Gauchos are coming off a 1-0 overtime victory against South Carolina on Nov. 22 in the NCAA Second Round in Santa Barbara. Ismaila Jome netted the golden goal in the 93^rd minute to defeat the Gamecocks.
• Nick DePuy leads UCSB in scoring with 15 goals and one assist for 31 points. He is one of four Gaucho players with at least 10 points on the season.
• Justin Vom Steeg has played 19 games in goal this season, however, Brandon Berke got the start and the shutout in the Gauchos’ win over South Carolina. Berke has six saves and has allowed five goals in four contests this year, while Vom Steeg has 59 saves and has given up 22 goals.

Series Notes:

• This is the first meeting between Clemson and UC Santa Barbara in men’s soccer.
• The two teams have played just one common opponent in 2015, South Carolina. The Gauchos defeated the Gamecocks 1-0 in overtime on Nov. 22 in the NCAA Second Round. The Tigers downed South Carolina 3-0 early in the season on Sept. 4, just the third game of the year for both teams.