CLEMSON, S.C. — The Fighting Irish men’s soccer team suffered a 3-1 defeat at Clemson in the opening round of the ACC Tournament on Wednesday at Riggs Field.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Irish created chances early, including a great look to score the opener in the seventh minute. Daniel Russo played a perfectly weighted pass to Wyatt Borso, who fired a low drive towards the far post but the Clemson keeper was up to the task and made a sliding save.
Just four minutes later disaster struck for the Irish. A long ball from the Clemson goalkeeper forced the Irish backline to retreat and a miscommunication between a defender and the goalkeeper resulted in a Notre Dame own goal to put the hosts on top 1-0.
The Tigers managed to double their lead right before the halftime break, as a dangerous free kick was turned into the goal by an Irish player to make the score 2-0.
Already chasing the match, the task got tougher in the 54th minute as Bryce Boneau received his second yellow card of the evening, forcing the Irish to play a man down the rest of the fixture.
Clemson added a goal in the 59th minute to make it a 3-0 contest, coming from Mohamed Seye.
The Irish refused to quit, and pulled one back in the 81st minute. Matthew Radivojsa was the first to a loose ball in the area and beat the Clemson keeper for his first of the season to trim the deficit to 3-1.
Minutes later Radivojsa nearly struck again, curling an effort to the top corner and forcing the Clemson goalie to make an acrobatic save to push it over the bar.
Notre Dame kept pressing forward in the final minutes but were unable to get any closer, falling by a score of 3-1.
McFARLAND FAMILY MEN’S HEAD SOCCER COACH CHAD RILEY’S TAKE
On the performance…
“I’m obviously very disappointed for the team tonight. They played so well in the first half and were very unlucky with the own goals. We started aggressively and put a lot of pressure on Clemson’s goal right from the first whistle. The game was then turned on its head in the first few minutes of the second half, but the team kept fighting. Not many teams would keep going like we did, but this is a special group. I believe we have shown we are a NCAA team and now we hope to hear our name called.”
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