CLEMSON, S.C. – Clemson men’s soccer connected on all four of its penalty kicks and got a critical save from Joseph Andema as fourth-seeded Clemson advanced against fifth-seeded Duke after playing to a 3-3 draw on Sunday in the ACC Championship quarterfinals at Historic Riggs Field. Clemson advances to play Louisville in the semifinal Wednesday at 8 p.m. at Historic Riggs Field after the Cardinals knocked off top-seeded Notre Dame on Sunday.
“I am very proud of our team,” head coach Mike Noonan said, “We have grown and learned a lot this year. It shows in matches like this when things get very difficult. I couldn’t be more proud of our players, coaches, support staff, and fans! Big time!”
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The Tigers put five of their nine shots on goal in the game, and Joseph Andema registered nine saves on the night against the Blue Devils, who entered the game ranked 8th nationally.
Starting the game strong, Andema jumped up and punched the ball up and away from the goal to keep the game scoreless. Soon after, Tyler Trimnal would get an opportunity to put the first shot on the cage.
Just eight minutes later, Alex Meinhard regained possession for Clemson in the midfield and found an open Ousmane Sylla. Sylla then sent the ball to Tyler Trimnal on the outside, who kicked the ball past Julian Eyestone and into the back left corner of the net to give Clemson an early 1-0 lead 10:21 minutes into the game.
Later in the first half, Andema stepped up to intercept Duke’s free kick. Duke later found the back of the net to tie the game at 1-1 with 8:55 left in the first half. n
After keeping Duke scoreless for the first eight minutes of the second half, the Blue Devils got a goal to take a 2-1 lead. With 20:15 left to play, Andema caught Duke’s shot between the numbers for another save.
70:58 minutes into the game, Andema made two incredible back-to-back saves. First, he leaped up to deflect the ball away from the net and then immediately saved a second shot on goal from the ground. Clemson went on to go on a fast break but was halted to a stop as the refs made a controversial call on Trimnal.
Following their corner kick 72:44 minutes into the game, Remi Okunlola passed the ball up across the field to Sylla, who then headed the ball over to Trimnal, and Trimnal went on to head the ball into the goal to even the score at two.
In the final minutes of the second half, Andema made a critical save to keep the score at 2-2 as he was one-on-one with Duke’s Nick Pariano.
Clemson struck first in overtime as Alex Meinhard capitalized off of a Duke yellow card and placed his shot top shelf for the 3-2 lead four minutes into overtime. Later, Andema saved a shot from deep. After that, Okunlola intercepted Duke’s shot on the cage as he headed the ball out of bounds with 3:04 left in overtime.
Seven minutes into overtime, Andema made the initial save off Duke’s corner but could not come up with a second as Ulfur Bjornsson scored off the rebound to even the score at 3-3. Clemson’s defense kept Duke out of the cage, sending the game into penalty kicks.
Sylla, Joran Gerbet, Gael Gibert, and Jackson Wrobel represented Clemson on the penalty kicks and put all four shots in the back of the net. Andema saved Duke’s second penalty kick to put Clemson ahead. A wide shot left from Duke and a goal from Clemson’s Wrobel sealed the thrilling 4-1 overtime victory for the Tigers and propels Clemson to the semifinals on Wednesday, November 8.
For complete coverage of the Clemson men’s soccer team, follow @ClemsonMSoccer on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
