Two weeks ago, the Clemson club lacrosse team lost a thriller to Boston College to fall to 1-2 on the season. In the postgame huddle, head coach Andrew Tobias had a simple message to rally his team: win the upcoming divisional games, and nothing else matters.
The Tigers took that message to heart, ripping off three straight wins against conference opponents, including two over NC State and Kentucky this past weekend at Method Road Complex in Raleigh, North Carolina.
The Tigers (4-2, 2-0 ALC South) were fresh off a bye week and had not strung together two straight wins until they made the four-and-a-half-hour journey to face off against the NC State Wolfpack on Friday night and the Kentucky Wildcats on Saturday afternoon.
Clemson battled against a stout NC State defense in the near-freezing cold before winning due to a fourth-quarter surge, 11-8. The Tigers returned the next day to beat Kentucky, 16-10.
Under the lights on Friday, NC State (2-3, 0-1 ALC South) traded goals with Clemson for most of the contest, leading to a tie game, 7-7, at halftime. In the third period, senior midfielder Gennaro Petrongolo tallied his second goal of the game before the Wolfpack responded with one of its own to tie it for the fifth and final time, 8-8.
Though Clemson peppered the cage with 32 shots on goal, NC State goalie Alex Duggleby put up a strong performance, making 21 saves between the pipes for the Wolfpack. His efforts were largely what kept the game neck and neck.
Once the fourth quarter began, the Tigers were tired of seeing their shots getting stopped. Senior captain Ian Jackson rifled a low-to-high shot off Petrongolo’s assist to give Clemson the lead, and the floodgates were open. Tyler Superczynski added two more later in the game to slam the door.
The Tigers then returned to Method Road to face Kentucky (1-6, 0-1 ALC North), cruising to a six-goal victory.
Clemson came out firing from the first whistle, jumping out to a 10-2 halftime lead. Though the Wildcats put up a good fight in the second half, outscoring the Tigers 8-6, they could not overcome the large deficit.
Holden Morrison was the star of the show, leading the Tigers to victory with eight goals on the day. Jackson, Superczynski and Petrongolo also got in on the action, each scoring at least one goal.
Clemson will reload and refocus, queuing up to play the University of North Carolina Tar Heels (1-2 ALC) Sunday, March 2. It will be the second of four straight road weekends for the Tigers as they look to defend their undefeated conference record.
