North Carolina Defeats Clemson 3-1 In Men’s Soccer

Nov. 3, 2002

CLEMSON, SC – Ryan Kneipper scored one goal and assisted on another in leading 23rd-ranked North Carolina to a 3-1 win over sixth-ranked Clemson in a men’s Atlantic Coast Conference soccer match at Clemson, SC Sunday afternoon.

With the win, North Carolina improves to 12-5-1 overall and 3-2-1 in the ACC. Clemson falls to 10-3-3 overall and 2-3-1 in league play. Clemson is ranked eighth in the NSCAA poll and sixth in the Soccer America poll and seventh by Soccertimes.com. North Carolina is ranked 23rd by both Soccer America and the NSCAA and 25th by Soccertimes.com.

Clemson scored first at the 24:30 mark as Eric Lewis scored his second goal of the season with assists by Fabio Tambosi and Steven Rhyne.

The Tar Heels scored three second half goals to take the win. Mike Gell scored an unassisted goal at the 49:27 mark.

North Carolina scored the go-ahead goal at the 85:55 point in the game as David Testo scored with an assist by Kneipper. This was Testo’s fifth goal this year.

The Tar Heels added their third goal at the 88:05 mark as Kneipper scored his 13th goal of the season.

“We got beat by a better team today,” said Clemson Head Coach Trevor Adair. “They wanted the win more and were ready to play. We couldn’t get anything going and I was disappointed in our performance. We didn’t play well and we didn’t battle. We are banged up and we have got to get healthy, and we have got to have people step up and be ready to play.”

Clemson will play host to Western Illinois on Sunday, November 10th in the Tigers’ next action. North Carolina will play host to South Carolina on Friday, November 8th in the Tar Heel’s next match. Both teams will participate in the ACC Tournament on November 14-17 in Cary, NC.

North Carolina 3, Clemson 1

Clemson-Eric Lewis (Fabio Tambosi, Steven Rhyne) 24:30 North Carolina-Mike Gell (Unassisted) 49:27 North Carolina-David Testo (Ryan Kneipper) 85:55 North Carolina-Ryan Kneipper (Unassisted) 88:05

Shots: Clemson 3, UNC 20Corner Kicks: Clemson 1, UNC 6Saves: Doug Warren (CU) 7, Ford Williams (UNC) 1Fouls: Clemson 19, UNC 24Attendance: 2880