No. 4 Clemson Drops 1-0 Heartbreaker to No. 7 South Carolina

CLEMSON, S.C. – The Clemson women’s soccer team dropped a 1-0 contest to No. 7 South Carolina on Friday night at Historic Riggs Field in front of a crowd of 3,892. The match marked the first time the two teams have met when both were ranked in the top 10. With the loss, the fourth-ranked Tigers slipped to 6-1 overall, while the Gamecocks improved to 6-1.

Miranda Weslake led the charge for Clemson early, taking four shots in the first 12 minutes. In the 13th minute, Mackenzie Smith cleared a ball out of the box to find Mariana Speckmaier at midfield. Speckmaier beat her defender and took a shot from 35 yards out, inches away from giving Clemson a lead. At the 17-minute mark, Elexa Bahr of South Carolina hit the back of the net on a cross from Savannah McCaskill, giving the Gamecocks a 1-0 lead into halftime.

In the last minute 15 minutes of play, Clemson had several great opportunities to score. Sam Staab took a free kick from 30 yards out that sailed a bit high, and Kimber Haley also had a great look that went just wide.

“I am pleased with how we played tonight; we created a greater number of the chances,” said Head Coach Eddie Radwanski. “These were two good teams playing, and one took advantage of their moment and scored a goal and got on top of it. We had other moments where we had opportunities to tie the game, and we needed our quality to be just a bit better. Regarding our effort, commitment and mindset, it was top notch, especially in the second half. I asked our kids to play and compete. They did, and we didn’t get the result today, but if we continue to do that we will be in really good shape.”

For the match, Clemson outshot South Carolina 10-3, and 5-2 in shots on goal. The Tigers and the Gamecocks each earned one corner kick. Sophomore Sandy MacIver had one save in the 90 minutes.

Clemson returns to action on Saturday, Sept. 16 at 7 p.m. as it hosts Notre Dame in its ACC opener at Historic Riggs Field. Admission is free for all remaining regular season home matches at Historic Riggs Field.