Are you not entertained?
Well, maybe a little too entertained, truth be told in Clemson’s 3-2 victory over Cal in the ACC Semifinals on a rainy Thursday evening in Cary, NC.
The Tigers (14-2-3) jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first half, but saw that evaporate in the matter of 17 minutes of the second half before this wizardry from ACC Freshman of the Year Ransford Gyan. Cal’s Cinderella run was ended, as well as their season as they failed to finish .500 in D1 games – the Golden Bears (8-8-2) would have likely been dancing had they gotten to overtime regardless of the result.
For the title, the No. 2 seed Clemson will face fifth-seeded Wake Forest (10-4-6) at noon on Sunday in Cary. Wake disposed of nine-seed Virginia 5-1 on Thursday. It'll be the fourth ACC finals appearance for the Tigers in the last five years.
Quickly, a hat tip to Cal. They were a tough foe that I didn’t grow to hate in the game. We know the whiny floppers of Duke, Stanford, UNC, etc. Cal played the game straight and I applaud that.
Wahabu Musah – another freshman for the Tigers – had two assists on the night. The aforementioned Gyan goal and was credited with assisting junior Tyler Trimnal’s goal to get the scoring started (I know it’s semantics, but Gyan’s ball to Musah was masterful and thought he might get the hockey assist).
Senior Alex Meinhard continued his scorched earth streak with his 11th goal of the season by fighting many Golden Bears with his bare hands like it was the circus. The BEstonian from Estonia has eight (!) goals in the last eight games with one assist.
Said this about Meinhard after the Stanford game:
One game down, seven more to go!
Now, for the reality punch that Cal gave us to start the half. We were bad. Patrick Donovan and Adam Lundegard would have physically fought their teammates I think after Cal opened the second half with a torrent of shots.
The Golden Bears first goal was their fourth shot of the half in the 51st minute – Paddy D had to save two of those. Cal tied it up 11 minutes later as we still hadn’t come out of the tunnel to start the second half.
In all, Cal had 11 shots in the second half to our four. I think it was our worst half of soccer, defensively maybe all season – it’s right there with the first half against Queens and first half against VT where we also gave up two goals. Bad tackles, bad clearances, bad positioning, bad effort, just bad everything.
You can go back to the game thread to see one player in particular had a really off night. Not that it was all on him, but both goals and 10 of the Bears 17 shots came during his 42 minutes on the field.
If that repeats itself against Wake Forest will demolish us.
Prick of the Game is Mother Nature. While we are 3-0-0 in the postseason, all have been wet and rainy and wetter. WakeMed Soccer Park has an amazing surface, but it’s not enjoyable to watch a game that your not in control of the elements. Good news is that it’s supposed to be upper-60s and sunny on Sunday.
So, about those Demon Deacons… they are a really good squad that is finding their groove. Since Clemson beat them 1-0 on Sept. 20, Wake is 8-1-3 – the lone blemish being a 3-0 loss at SMU. Wake avenged that loss by knocking SMU out in the second round of the ACC tournament via PKs. Wake has outscored their opponents 22-10 in those 12 games.
Cooper Flax is the name to hate for Wake. The talented junior has scored eight goals – four via PKs. Basit Umar and Babacar Niang each have four goals, while Dylan Borso has four assists.
In goal, All-ACC second-team keeper Trace Alphin has a 1.05 GAA on the season with a save percentage of .716. In the last 12 games, those numbers have moved to 0.83 GAA and a .778 save percentage.
In the first game back in September, Clemson outshot Wake 19 (7)-13 (5), but the lone goal came from a Joran Gerbet penalty kick in the 53rd minute. Only two of Wake’s shots came inside the 18.
But I don’t think that matchup has anything to do with Sunday. Both teams are demonstrably different. We were coming off that 2-2 draw at Holy Cross and of Wake’s starting 11 against Clemson, only seven started against UVA on Thursday.
Wake – the preseason No. 15 team - deploys a 4-3-3 formation that has Flax and Umar in the midfield playing under the three forwards. There will be space on the wings that we need to take advantage of.
I think we are all interested in what Noonan decides to do on the left wing with Arthur Duquenne. He is such an asset going forward, but has had numerous defensive lapses. One option is Galen Flynn, who replaced Duquenne after Cal’s second goal in the 75th minute.
Flynn is a transfer in his first season at Clemson from Saint Louis via Fordham. In his first two years at Fordham, he started 23 games with four goals and five assists. After playing just one game in his third year there, the West Hartford, Conn., native transferred to Saint Louis where he started 14 games and had three assists for the Billikens (wasn’t going to not use their mascot – c’mon, it’s too great of a name).
Now a redshirt-junior at Clemson (I’m assuming Covid year and redshirt at Fordham his third season), Flynn has played in 15 games with four starts and has one assist. He started against Stanford Part 1, Loyola (Md.), Holy Cross and Louisville Part 1. The most minutes he played in a game this season, however, is 49.
In 2022, Flynn was named the Defensive, as well as, Creative Player of the Year with the Ocean City Nor’easters (again – too great to not use!) in the USL League 2. So, is he capable of playing that left-wingback position against a Wake Forest team that ranks second in the country in shots per game and first in shots on goal per game?
We might have to find out, unless Nathan Richmond is healed up. And this isn't calling for benching Duquenne, who coincidentally didn't start versus Cal, Noonan knows what to do and we will be good with that. However, after some miscues from the Frenchman against Uof, Flynn got the start in the next game against Stanford.
Clemson and Wake have played 56 times with Wake holding a 26-21-8 edge. From 2003 to 2013, Wake was 10-0-3 before Clemson finally won in 2014. Wake won another five in a row from 2016-19. Since 2020, Clemson is 4-3-1 against Wake but has been outscored 11-8 thanks mostly to a 6-1 win for Wake in 2022.
It’s going to be a tight game. Since Bobby Muuss took over the Wake program in 2015, Clemson has scored more than one goal in a game just five times over 15 games.
Just win, baby.
Clemson moved up to 14th in RPI and Wake is directly behind at 15th. I think win or lose on Sunday, we are in a good spot for a top 8 seed in the NCAA tournament.
Games to keep an eye on between now and Sunday, as it relates to RPI:
Go Tigers! Beat Wake!
@JTJohnston @leetp @Clem'sSon @UrHuckleberry @Clemson Rag @TigerFlow @jbf1981 @CoffeeIsForClosers @BarnwellTiger @Paul Strelow @padtigers @1Clemson @toby_corriston @gooddogjudge @BoomBoom82 @False9 @doodog @Clemsonu90 @Tigerrag864 @ajpbnd @CAPT KIRK @Watson to Renfrow @acwill07 @rocky29670 @Rchitekt @MaxCalifornia @Smiling_Tiger @tiger1995 @moradatiger70 @charlestontiger417 @UNSWERVINGLY @JimTurkey @CU99 @The89Tiger @Spencer_York
Well, maybe a little too entertained, truth be told in Clemson’s 3-2 victory over Cal in the ACC Semifinals on a rainy Thursday evening in Cary, NC.
The Tigers (14-2-3) jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first half, but saw that evaporate in the matter of 17 minutes of the second half before this wizardry from ACC Freshman of the Year Ransford Gyan. Cal’s Cinderella run was ended, as well as their season as they failed to finish .500 in D1 games – the Golden Bears (8-8-2) would have likely been dancing had they gotten to overtime regardless of the result.
For the title, the No. 2 seed Clemson will face fifth-seeded Wake Forest (10-4-6) at noon on Sunday in Cary. Wake disposed of nine-seed Virginia 5-1 on Thursday. It'll be the fourth ACC finals appearance for the Tigers in the last five years.
Quickly, a hat tip to Cal. They were a tough foe that I didn’t grow to hate in the game. We know the whiny floppers of Duke, Stanford, UNC, etc. Cal played the game straight and I applaud that.
Wahabu Musah – another freshman for the Tigers – had two assists on the night. The aforementioned Gyan goal and was credited with assisting junior Tyler Trimnal’s goal to get the scoring started (I know it’s semantics, but Gyan’s ball to Musah was masterful and thought he might get the hockey assist).
Senior Alex Meinhard continued his scorched earth streak with his 11th goal of the season by fighting many Golden Bears with his bare hands like it was the circus. The BEstonian from Estonia has eight (!) goals in the last eight games with one assist.
Said this about Meinhard after the Stanford game:
One game down, seven more to go!
Now, for the reality punch that Cal gave us to start the half. We were bad. Patrick Donovan and Adam Lundegard would have physically fought their teammates I think after Cal opened the second half with a torrent of shots.
The Golden Bears first goal was their fourth shot of the half in the 51st minute – Paddy D had to save two of those. Cal tied it up 11 minutes later as we still hadn’t come out of the tunnel to start the second half.
In all, Cal had 11 shots in the second half to our four. I think it was our worst half of soccer, defensively maybe all season – it’s right there with the first half against Queens and first half against VT where we also gave up two goals. Bad tackles, bad clearances, bad positioning, bad effort, just bad everything.
You can go back to the game thread to see one player in particular had a really off night. Not that it was all on him, but both goals and 10 of the Bears 17 shots came during his 42 minutes on the field.
If that repeats itself against Wake Forest will demolish us.
Prick of the Game is Mother Nature. While we are 3-0-0 in the postseason, all have been wet and rainy and wetter. WakeMed Soccer Park has an amazing surface, but it’s not enjoyable to watch a game that your not in control of the elements. Good news is that it’s supposed to be upper-60s and sunny on Sunday.
So, about those Demon Deacons… they are a really good squad that is finding their groove. Since Clemson beat them 1-0 on Sept. 20, Wake is 8-1-3 – the lone blemish being a 3-0 loss at SMU. Wake avenged that loss by knocking SMU out in the second round of the ACC tournament via PKs. Wake has outscored their opponents 22-10 in those 12 games.
Cooper Flax is the name to hate for Wake. The talented junior has scored eight goals – four via PKs. Basit Umar and Babacar Niang each have four goals, while Dylan Borso has four assists.
In goal, All-ACC second-team keeper Trace Alphin has a 1.05 GAA on the season with a save percentage of .716. In the last 12 games, those numbers have moved to 0.83 GAA and a .778 save percentage.
In the first game back in September, Clemson outshot Wake 19 (7)-13 (5), but the lone goal came from a Joran Gerbet penalty kick in the 53rd minute. Only two of Wake’s shots came inside the 18.
But I don’t think that matchup has anything to do with Sunday. Both teams are demonstrably different. We were coming off that 2-2 draw at Holy Cross and of Wake’s starting 11 against Clemson, only seven started against UVA on Thursday.
Wake – the preseason No. 15 team - deploys a 4-3-3 formation that has Flax and Umar in the midfield playing under the three forwards. There will be space on the wings that we need to take advantage of.
I think we are all interested in what Noonan decides to do on the left wing with Arthur Duquenne. He is such an asset going forward, but has had numerous defensive lapses. One option is Galen Flynn, who replaced Duquenne after Cal’s second goal in the 75th minute.
Flynn is a transfer in his first season at Clemson from Saint Louis via Fordham. In his first two years at Fordham, he started 23 games with four goals and five assists. After playing just one game in his third year there, the West Hartford, Conn., native transferred to Saint Louis where he started 14 games and had three assists for the Billikens (wasn’t going to not use their mascot – c’mon, it’s too great of a name).
Now a redshirt-junior at Clemson (I’m assuming Covid year and redshirt at Fordham his third season), Flynn has played in 15 games with four starts and has one assist. He started against Stanford Part 1, Loyola (Md.), Holy Cross and Louisville Part 1. The most minutes he played in a game this season, however, is 49.
In 2022, Flynn was named the Defensive, as well as, Creative Player of the Year with the Ocean City Nor’easters (again – too great to not use!) in the USL League 2. So, is he capable of playing that left-wingback position against a Wake Forest team that ranks second in the country in shots per game and first in shots on goal per game?
We might have to find out, unless Nathan Richmond is healed up. And this isn't calling for benching Duquenne, who coincidentally didn't start versus Cal, Noonan knows what to do and we will be good with that. However, after some miscues from the Frenchman against Uof, Flynn got the start in the next game against Stanford.
Clemson and Wake have played 56 times with Wake holding a 26-21-8 edge. From 2003 to 2013, Wake was 10-0-3 before Clemson finally won in 2014. Wake won another five in a row from 2016-19. Since 2020, Clemson is 4-3-1 against Wake but has been outscored 11-8 thanks mostly to a 6-1 win for Wake in 2022.
It’s going to be a tight game. Since Bobby Muuss took over the Wake program in 2015, Clemson has scored more than one goal in a game just five times over 15 games.
Just win, baby.
Clemson moved up to 14th in RPI and Wake is directly behind at 15th. I think win or lose on Sunday, we are in a good spot for a top 8 seed in the NCAA tournament.
Games to keep an eye on between now and Sunday, as it relates to RPI:
- (6) Penn vs. (79) Brown – Ivy League Semifinals (Friday)
- (20) Cornell vs. (44) Princeton – Ivy League Semifinals (Friday)
- (4) Hofstra vs. (76) UNCW – CAA Championship (Saturday)
- (2) Denver vs. (38) Kansas City – Summit League Championship (Saturday)
- (7) Dayton vs. (37) Saint Louis – A10 Championship (Sunday)
- (5) Georgetown vs. (16) Providence – Big East Championship (Sunday)
- (13) Marshall vs. (17) West Virginia – Sun Belt Championship (Sunday)
- (1) Ohio State vs. (27) Michigan – B10 Championship (Sunday)
- Ivy League Championship (Sunday)
Go Tigers! Beat Wake!
@JTJohnston @leetp @Clem'sSon @UrHuckleberry @Clemson Rag @TigerFlow @jbf1981 @CoffeeIsForClosers @BarnwellTiger @Paul Strelow @padtigers @1Clemson @toby_corriston @gooddogjudge @BoomBoom82 @False9 @doodog @Clemsonu90 @Tigerrag864 @ajpbnd @CAPT KIRK @Watson to Renfrow @acwill07 @rocky29670 @Rchitekt @MaxCalifornia @Smiling_Tiger @tiger1995 @moradatiger70 @charlestontiger417 @UNSWERVINGLY @JimTurkey @CU99 @The89Tiger @Spencer_York
