Clemson’s Men’s soccer team wrapped up their regular season on October 27^th with a 3-0 shutout against NC State. That win increased their record to 7-8-1 overall and 2-6 in the ACC.
In addition to it being the last game of the season, it was also Clemson’s senior game. Before the game, Clemson honored Jonny Sutherland, Andrew Burnikel, Patrick Bunk-Anderson, Johnny Heckman, and manager Jack Christian in a ceremony. As you may have noticed Andrew Burnikel is only a redshirt junior, so he still has another year of eligibility. However, he has decided to leave the game early to become a doctor.
Burnikel was able to score one last goal for the Tigers at home, as he, Kimarni Smith and Robbie Robinson all scored against NC State. With three saves, senior goalie, Jonny Sutherland, was able to put on a good show in his last home game. Because of the team’s dominating performance, head coach Mike Noonan felt confident enough to give each of his seniors playing time.
Throughout the season, Clemson has struggled to put up points. On the season they scored as many points as they allowed, 23. Though recently they have been able to put up more, like in the NC State game when they had no problem putting the ball in the back of the net. Junior forward, Adrian Nunez leads the team with 6 goals this year. However, Clemson has plenty of players that can get the job done. Clemson has 16 players that have either scored a goal or assisted in one this season. Additionally, when a game comes down to penalty kicks, Clemson will probably come out on top because they have scored 5 out of 5 of them this season.
Before playing the Wolfpack, the Tigers defeated the No. 20 ranked Syracuse Orange in a 3-2 nail bitter. Although their season has had its ups and downs, the Tigers were able to finish strong with two big back to back conference wins. Leading the team into the postseason are team captains Bunk-Anderson and Tanner Dieterich.
Being in such a competitive conference has hurt Clemson’s record, but it has also pushed them to be better and prepared them for the postseason. The Tigers are peaking just in time for the ACC tournament, and they have the potential to be this year’s dark horse. Clemson will play No. 18 Notre Dame, the fifth seed, tonight at 7 pm at Alumni Stadium.