The Clemson Men’s Soccer team moved to 2-0 on the young season Monday night with a workman like victory over the USC Upstate Spartans at Historic Riggs Field on the Clemson campus.
Last Friday the Tigers opened the season with a 3-2 victory over Indiana.
The game was physical from the outset and before the first half was over a total of six yellow cards had been handed out, three on each side.
The Tigers were aggressive from the beginning and scored 15 minutes into the match Ousmane Sylla found a wide open Tim Ströbeck and the sophomore from Sweden scored his fourth career goal to put the Tigers up 1-0.
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Clemson dominated the first half, but was unable to score again, missing on chance after chance to extend the lead.
The Tigers hit a lull as the second half began and seemed content with the lead until the the 70 minute mark when Joey Skinner found Isaiah Reid for a tap-in goal that ended the question of who would win for all intents and purposes.
Joey Skinner finds Reid for the WIDE OPEN net and it's 2-0 late here at Riggs!!#ClemsonUnited🧡💜
— Clemson Men's Soccer (@ClemsonMSoccer) August 30, 2022
📺https://t.co/le7Y387QUB
📊https://t.co/xTdAwIALwJ pic.twitter.com/nNL7xRuX6V
From that point forward Clemson controlled the ball and match as time wound down and the defending National Champion Tigers earned their second win on the season.
The Tigers dominated the shots on goal, 19-8, while Upstate was assessed 17 penalties to 6 to six for Clemson.
Clemson Men’s Soccer defeats USC Upstate 2-0, take on South Carolina next
Freshman goalkeeper Joseph Andema recorded a shutout in his first career start in front of a crowd of over 3,000.
Next up for Clemson is a trip to arch-rival South Carolina on Friday for a 7 p.m. match that will be shown on ESPN+.
The Gamecocks are 0-1-1 on the young season, tying Ohio State 1-1 before losing to Dayton 4-2 in the Wolstein Classic in Columbus, Ohio last week.
Following the trip to Columbia, the Tigers return to Clemson to take on UNC-Asheville on Labor Day Night before opening ACC play September 10 in Newton, Massachusetts against Boston College.