The Tigers keep adding pages to their record book this season, and Saturday’s game added quite a few. No. 12 Clemson (5-0, 2-0 ACC) stifled No. 6 Syracuse (3-3, 0-2 ACC) with a 9-8 victory, marking the Tigers’ highest-ranked win and the first-ever victory against the Orange.
The win also marks the best record through five games in the program’s young history.
Clemson has been making headlines these past few weeks, for good reason. It is one of the fastest-growing programs, rapidly climbing the weekly rankings. After last week’s triumph over then-No. 11 Notre Dame, the Tigers should have been riding high. The victory tied for the greatest win in program history, moving them up from No. 17 to No. 14 in the national rankings. Emily Lamparter earned IWLCA and ACC Defensive Player of the Week honors after her stout performance in goal.
But the Tigers weren’t satisfied. Head coach Allison Kwolek kept the celebrations brief, knowing her team could break that record the very next week.
Clemson brought this focus to the JMA Wireless Dome last weekend, controlling nearly the entire game against Syracuse. Despite losing both the ground ball and turnover battle, the Tigers dominated the time of possession.
It all started at the center draw, where Syracuse had no answer for Kira Balis. The standout freshman grabbed a team-high eight draw controls and set up Natalie Shurtleff to collect five from the wing position. The Tigers won 17 out of the 21 draw controls in the game, an 80.95% win rate.
Syracuse fought hard in the second half, stringing together scoring possessions to tie the game in the fourth quarter after trailing for over 21 minutes of game time. There was some back and forth before Shurtleff scored her second of the game to give Clemson the lead, 8-7. Penn transfer Lexi Edmonds tallied her second goal less than a minute later, icing the game.
Offensively, the Tigers worked the clock, taking shots late into the 90-second shot clock. During the game, standout sophomore Kayla MacLeod scored her team-leading 17th goal on the season, while Lindsey Marshall and Katie Castiello each tallied two goals and an assist.
On the opposite end, Clemson’s defense was suffocating. After falling behind 2-1 early in the game, the Tigers prevented the Orange from scoring for 23 minutes in the first half, providing the opportunity for the offense to take a 5-3 lead at halftime. Senior midfielder Summer Agostino led the team with two caused turnovers and five groundballs, while Lamparter made six saves in the net.
Syracuse added a goal with 49 seconds to play in the game, but a draw control loss led to Clemson running out the clock, ending the game. The Orange have now lost three top 25 contests in a row, scoring eight goals in each loss against No. 2 North Carolina, No. 3 Northwestern and No. 12 Clemson.
On the other side, Clemson has now won five straight. The Tigers conquered their two-game ACC road gauntlet, making a great case to be ranked in the top 10 for the upcoming week. Clemson will return home this week to face Queens on Tuesday, March 4, and nationally-ranked Duke on Saturday, March 8.
