The No. 24 Clemson Tigers (7-3, 1-3 ACC) saw their third loss of the season to No. 4 Boston College (6-2, 3-1 ACC) by a score of 17-10 on Thursday.
There was no shortage of action on the field as constant changes in possession forced Clemson to frequently sprint coast-to-coast. The first quarter saw a tug-of-war of points as Boston College struck first in just over 30 seconds into play. The Tigers responded shortly after, and the action continued until a tie score of 3-3 stood for three minutes — one of the longer non-scoring periods of the game.
The Eagles went on a run following this tie, scoring five unanswered goals before ACC Offensive Player of the Week Sofia Chepenik netted her first of the game for Clemson and her 18th of the season. The freshman attacker scored three total, making this performance her fifth hat trick of the season.
The Tigers’ offense was determined to stay in the game, even when trailing. Down a player, after attacker Gianna New was sent to the box for a shove, Clemson scored when fellow attacker Emma Tilson put one in despite the Eagles having a man advantage.
Tilson took flight against the Eagles, notching four goals and bringing her season total to 19. She combined with Chepenik for seven of the Tigers’ 10 goals, with an additional two from attacker Bella Martire and one from New. The Eagles’ defense prevented Clemson’s lead scorer, senior Hanna Hilcoff, from finding the back of the net.
The defense played strong against one of the most elite offenses in the nation. Although Clemson’s offense fought to bring the score within three points at one point in the third quarter, Boston College ultimately went on two runs which the Tigers could not recover from.
The two teams played the second and third quarters pretty even, as the Eagles scored four in the second while the Tigers responded with three and outscored Boston 3-1 in the third quarter. However, it proved to be the first and fourth quarters in which Clemson struggled as the Eagles scored seven and five goals, respectively.
Clemson midfielder Nakeeya McCardell was a notable presence around the Tigers’ 8 and proved crucial in freezing out free-position shots. McCardell additionally utilized her speed to run turnovers downfield to Boston College’s territory, then back to defend her own goalie.
The Eagles’ defense was especially aggressive towards Clemson defender Paris Masaracchia, as the extent to which they were marking her up in the midfield position became noticeable after several shoves out of bounds.
Following last weekend’s 11-10 victory over No. 15 Duke, this marked the first top-25 matchup of the Tigers’ inaugural season.
The Tigers will be back in action on Sunday, March 19, against Radford University at Historic Riggs Field at 1 p.m. EDT.
