The No. 14 Clemson men’s soccer team (10-3-4, 4-2-2 ACC) will face the No. 9 North Carolina Tar Heels (10-3-5, 2-3-3 ACC) in the ACC Championship final at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina, on Sunday.
The Tigers enter the match with their fourth ACC final appearance in the last five years and their last championship in 2020. Winning on Sunday would give Clemson its 16th ACC Tournament championship and the third for head coach Mike Noonan since he took over in 2010.
The team is riding high with plenty of momentum, coming off of a dominant win over Louisville on Wednesday night at Historic Riggs Field by a score of 5-1. The team has also not lost a game since Sept. 22 and hopes to extend that streak in Sunday’s game against the Tar Heels.
Clemson will rely on its offensive power to help pull away early. In their last game, the Tigers poured on 28 shots — and that is what Noonan thought was the biggest improvement from their close penalty shootout win over Duke last Sunday.
“We put our shots on goal, and that was the biggest thing,” Noonan said after the semifinal win. “I think that, in order to get yourself into those positions to get the shots, from the range that we did to get them on goal, our build-up play and the quickness that we move the ball in the attacking half of the field was excellent today.”
The Tar Heels are no team to look over, however, despite being the No. 7 seed in the tournament. North Carolina ran the table, defeating Virginia Tech, Wake Forest and Syracuse, the reigning champions of the NCAA, to make it to Cary. The opposing team is riding off a 3-1 victory over the Orange to reach their first championship since 2018. Sunday will mark the first contest between the two teams this season.
North Carolina has plenty of players who could make the Tigers pay if mistakes are made. In the front is forward Quenzi Huerman, who earned himself a first-team All-ACC honor through his nine-goal campaign this season, which is sixth in the ACC.
Joining Huerman on attack is graduate transfer Martin Vician, who scored two goals in the Tar Heels’ win over Syracuse on Wednesday. On the defensive side is Riley Thomas, who earned a second-team All-ACC spot this week.
Kickoff is set for noon on Sunday, and the game will be broadcast on ESPNU.
