Clemson Men’s Soccer: Tigers defeat Irish, move on to quarterfinals

Clemson Men’s Soccer defeated Notre Dame 3-1 Wednesday to move on to the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament as head coach Mike Noonan recorded his 100th career win at Historic Riggs Field on the Clemson campus.

The Tigers benefited from sloppy play by the Irish which included two own goals to jump out to what turned out to be a 2-0 lead at the end of the first half.

The first came when a Notre Dame defender attempted to head the ball to his goaltender less than a third of the way through the first half, but it ended up in the Irish net for a 1-0 Clemson lead.

Then, with under five minutes left in the first half, it happened again, with lots of bodies in front of the net, the ball was deflected off a Notre Dame player and into the goal for the 2-0 halftime lead in favor of the Tigers.

The Tigers had to feel fortunate as they were outshot 4-3 by the Irish in the initial half.

Clemson put the game away 13 minutes and 53 seconds into the second half when Mohamed Seye scored on a header on a beautiful assist from Enrique Montana to give the Tigers an insurmountable 3-0 lead.

The Fighting Irish scored with 9:37 left on the clock to end Joseph Andema’s hopes of another clean sheet and make the final a respectable 3-1.

Clemson outshot the Irish 10-3 in the second half and 13-10 on the game, while Andema registered six saves on the evening.

The Tigers were charged with 21 fouls during the match, while the Irish tallied 14.

Clemson men’s soccer now faces the tough task of playing top-seeded Duke on the road

Clemson, now 11-5-1 on the season, moves on to face the top-ranked Duke Blue Devils Sunday at 8 p.m. at Duke.

Other quarterfinal winners were North Carolina, Pitt and Virginia Tech, while Duke, Wake Forest, Virginia and Syracuse all had first-round byes.

The first three rounds are scheduled for the higher-seeded team’s campus site, while the final is scheduled for Cary, North Carolina at noon on November 13.