Now sitting at 6-0-2, the No. 9 Clemson women’s soccer team had an eventful weekend following its 1-0 victory over No. 7 Arkansas on Thursday and a 1-1 tie with Georgia on Sunday.
The Tigers scored once in each game. A beautiful turn from Clemson forward Sami Meredith went past two Razorbacks, ending in her dumping the ball off to freshman Tatum Short. Short then sent the ball to forward Caroline Conti, who took one touch to deliver a strike in the bottom right corner.
“Resilience. The team was resilient today,” Clemson head coach Eddie Radwanski said of his number one takeaway from the match. “This was the number-one test we’ve faced thus far. We 100 percent got better from playing this game.”
The match against Arkansas closed a successful three-game homestand at Historic Riggs, with the Tigers outscoring their opponents 10-1.
In Athens on Sunday, the first half ended with no points on the board for either team. Five minutes into the second half, the Bulldogs found the back of the net. Clemson forward Emma Wennar then tied up the match on an assist by Makenna Morris in the 70th minute, leading to the tie.
Clemson goalkeeper Halle Mackiewicz continued her stellar season in between the posts with an impressive four saves against Arkansas, including an 81st-minute stop with her foot to prevent a late rally from the Razorbacks. The game against Arkansas marked the senior’s sixth shutout of the season. She had two saves and let one in against the Bulldogs.
Radwanski noted how crucial Mackiewicz is to the program.
“Halle’s presence back there is the biggest factor; we know she has our back,” he said. “She is aggressive, she is confident and she owns the box.”
Both games started out scrappy, with five fouls recorded through the first 12 minutes against Arkansas and four in the first half against Georgia. Clemson had played relatively clean leading up to the two games, totaling 36 fouls in six matches, but the Tigers have recorded 27 since.
It is only fitting that the team earned another “donut,” a term coined by coach Radwanski years ago. When the team earns a shutout, Radwanski delivers fresh Krispy Kreme donuts the next day. In response to the Tigers’ 5-0 shutout against Western Carolina on Sept. 3, Clemson players were spotted around campus passing out donuts to students on their way to class before the match with Arkansas.
Clemson begins ACC play with a matchup versus Florida State at Riggs on Friday afternoon. The match marks a double-header at Riggs, with the men’s team playing Duke immediately after the women’s game. Kickoff is slated for 4 p.m. for the women.
