With aptly colored orange trees surrounding a packed Historic Riggs Field, the Clemson men’s soccer team defeated Notre Dame 3-1 in the first round of the ACC Tournament on Wednesday night.
Unlike the semifinal matchup between the two clubs in the past year’s College Cup, when the game came down to penalty kicks, the Tigers led for the final 79 minutes of play in this year’s showdown. 
The revenge-seeking Fighting Irish somewhat defeated themselves last night, as an own goal at the 10:45 mark in the first half set the team behind for the remainder of the match. Attempting to field a goal kick from Clemson’s Joseph Andema, a miscommunication between a Notre Dame defenseman and goalie Bryan Dowd led to the defender heading the ball into his own goal.
It wasn’t the Irish’s only self-inflicted wound of the night.
In the 39th minute, a Notre Dame foul allowed Clemson midfielder Brandon Parrish to send a ball into the penalty box from about 40 yards out. Parrish’s pass led to another goal, as yet another miscommunication between Notre Dame’s defense and Dowd caused a deflection and a second own goal.  
The Tigers then shut the door on the match on a cross-field pass from defender Enrique Montana III, who dished it to a streaking Mohamed Seye. Seye proceeded to finish the play with a header past Dowd.
Following a mid-October slump in which Clemson drew or lost four straight matches, head coach Mike Noonan wanted to see improvements from his team entering the ACC Tournament. 
“We worked hard defensively because we were conceding some pretty soft goals there in the middle patch,” Noonan said. “I think the guys did a good job tonight.”
The Clemson defense shut out the Irish until the game was all but decided when Notre Dame forward Matthew Radivojsa squeaked one by Andema in the 80th minute. 
Following this victory, the Tigers will travel to Durham to face No. 1-seeded Duke on Nov. 6.