Paws up: Bounce back from the Stanford loss
On Friday, Sept. 6, Clemson United suffered their first defeat in 350 days. The defending national champions took the field on Tuesday night needing to respond to a loss, something no one on the team had experienced.
Right from kickoff, it was all Tigers, with Clemson scoring three first-half goals. The Tigers’ energy continued into the second half as the team found the back of the net three more times to leave no doubt in a 6-0 victory.
His team’s victory inspired head coach Mike Noonan: “It’s a very important win coming off a disappointing loss on Friday.” Recovering from such a disappointing loss in such a dramatic fashion proves Clemson United to be a mentally strong group, a key attribute to a championship team.
Paws up: James Kelly and Bench Co. shine
In his first start of the season, James Kelly made his presence known. He cleaned up a deflected ball to score a third-minute goal and continued his momentum through the rest of the game. He almost had a career-first brace with a hard strike going bar down, inches from crossing the goal line with five minutes left in the first half.
Other usual bench players followed Kelly’s lead, leaving Noonan pleased with the play from his alternates. “There’s a lot of different players that I can select from, and the level won’t drop,” he said.
He credited the program’s success in recent years, saying, “The bar here at Clemson is very high. We continue to raise the floor with the depth of competition for spots on our team,” he added. Seeing the bench shine is very promising for Clemson to continue its momentum and remain one of the country’s top teams.
Paws down: Nothing!
Clemson played as close as possible to a perfect soccer game. Offensively, the Tigers dominated their opposition, controlling play and putting up six goals. Defensively, Clemson was a brick wall, allowing the lone shot 26 seconds into the game.
Star Clemson goalkeeper Joseph Andema appeared to be growing bored in the net as he did not have to save a single shot to secure Clemson’s clean slate. On both ends of the field the Tigers proved why they are the defending national champions.
