Seventy-one minutes had gone by last Friday in Louisville and those that were following along with Clemson’s game against the Cardinals were just dumbfounded. The Tigers, which host Queens University on Tuesday at 7 p.m., were dominating in every facet beyond the scoreboard. Inexplicably, we were down 2-0 and lost our MVP Joran Gerbet to an injury right before halftime.
Seven minutes later, to quote the great Pharrell: Never dreamt I’d speak the phrase, now what the f___ just happened.
First, it was
Wahabu Musah with his first career goal. Thankful he was ruled onside as I think Titus Sandy Jr.’s ball was going in anyway, but Musah now has his first goal and assist in his last two games.
Four minutes later,
James Kelly does what a striker does and – for lack of a better term – just finishes, after being on the field for all of 30 seconds prior to the goal. Right place, right time for his third goal of the 2024 campaign.
Less than three minutes after Kelly’s goal, our Ghanian Messi – Ransford Gyan –
has the vision of Neo to see the keeper in a horrible position through traffic and one touches a ball through it all to find the side netting.
Just like that, Clemson (7-2-2) is up 3-2. And for the second straight game, our
Cardiac Cats win an ACC game 3-2 when it looked unlikely, if not impossible.
Before Clemson scored these three goals, Coach Noonan made two interesting substitutions. With 23 minutes left, he put Terry Watson in for Mason Lamb on the backline, but Watson moved to centerback and Lukas Magnason moved to left-centerback where Lamb has played in Adam Lundegard’s red card absences. In three years at Clemson, Watson had only played in six games for a total of 85 minutes. Lamb had a bad turnover a few minutes before, but I’m not certain that’s why he made the move.
Watson has speed and Louisville kept trying to beat us on a fast break
like their second goal. His speed, while putting him in a one-on-one situation, would hopefully negate that.
At the same time, Paulino Paz came in for Arthur Duquenne at left wingback. Paz, the freshman from Bolivia, had averaged just over 22’ of play time in his last four games – two of those being against Loyola (Md.) and Liberty.
Paz played the No. 6 (pivot) spot and Noonan moved Antonio Illuminato out to the left side. Down 2-0, Noonan changed the formation to a more traditional 3-4-3 out of possession – the wingbacks gone for wingers. Had to take the risk at the back as it didn’t matter if Louisville scored more if we didn’t score at all. In possession, it was a 2-5-3 as Sandy Jr. pushed up the right side.
Obviously, it worked as the next 11 minutes or so produced three goals.
The last two games – and really all season – haven’t necessarily been pretty, but have been absolutely gritty. We get a little reprieve as we welcome Queens (No. 171 in RPI) and USC Upstate (204) to Historic Riggs Field the next two Tuesdays, before hosting Syracuse on Oct. 25.
The elephant in the room, however, is the health of Gerbet. It looked muscular (hamstring?), but this is pure speculation. Hopefully, our man
@toby_corriston can get an update and that it isn’t a lengthy absence. Fully expect to hear he is 'day-to-day', as that's the phrase all coaches have seemed to latch onto.
Clemson should get Lundegard back, which again: the Tigers GAA with him in the lineup is 0.699, which would rank 10th in the country; without him, it’s over two. That should help solidify the squad if Gerbet is out.
Clemson was able to get two huge ACC wins without our captain in the back, and we now sit third in the standings at 4-2 in the conference. We play two more ACC games versus Syracuse (1-2-2 in ACC play) and at Virginia Tech (1-3-1).
If the season ended today, we’d host Louisville in the first round and the winner of SMU-NCSU in the quarterfinals. Semifinals and Final are in Cary, N.C. If chalk takes it, we’d get our rematch with those Stanford punks in the semis.
But, first thing is first, take care of business versus Queens University (3-6-2). The Monarchs have been outscored 18-10 on the season and have just 33 SOG in 11 games. Caio Brandao has four goals and two assists to lead Queens. Quick sidenote, he played at Montverde Academy in HS, so if he impresses Noonan during the game tomorrow, he may get a call.
Illuminato replaced Gerbet in the second half. The graduate student from Cardito, Italy is a transfer from Drexel, where he was an All-CAA first-team selection last year after scoring five goals to pair with eight assists.
So far this season, Illuminato has three goals and an assist for the Tigers in 548 minutes over 11 games. Certainly the Italian, who scored the game-winner against UNC, is proving to be another ‘hit’ for Noonan in the transfer market as he is tied for second most goals on the team. The hope is that he doesn’t have to fill in for Gerbet for too long, but he’s certainly been capable for the Tigers this season.
The Prick of the Game probably deserves to be center ref Matthew Thompson, but I’m going to go with Louisville ginger keeper AJ Piela. This guy was doing his best Jordan Pickford and wasting time from the opening whistle and every save was overly dramatic after he got the ball.
Act like you’ve been there before. And also thank you for your terrible positioning on our three goals. Was a big help.
Go Tigers! Beat Queens!
