Clemson falls to the Mountaineers
By: alex-turri September 7, 2018

In a close match Friday at Historic Riggs field in Clemson, the Clemson women’s soccer team fell, 2-1, to West Virginia.

As the second half started it was Clemson (4-3) who came out of the gates strong. At the 67:53 mark, Miranda Weslake secured her fourth goal of the season on a header from two yards out. The goal came off a cross from returning Tigers’ defender Sam Staab, who has just returned from national duties with the U-23 USA women’s team.

“We had to tweak a few things coming into the second half because we had to get back in the game,” Clemson head coach Eddie Radwanski said. “So, we kind of lifted our line of pressure and still tried to frustrate West Virginia. I thought it was a great response, tied the game up and you could feel the momentum.”

After a fast start to the game, it was West Virginia (2-2-3) who scored the first goal of the match. At the 10:15 mark, West Virginia’s Ferrer-VanGinkel capitalized on a deflection five yards out. With her first goal of the season, Ferrer-VanGinkel’s goal ended the half with WVU leading 1-0.

Hannah Abraham scored the game-winner in the back of the net on a header. This came from a free kick from midfield. The Tigers’ were outshot 15 to 7 in the game and had 0 corners while WVU had 6.

“Well sometimes the stats don’t tell the true story,” Radwanski said. “You know shots that go over the cage, corners that lead to nothing, we’re more concerned with actual threats on the goal. I was actually quite pleased with our game plan. We were able to slow West Virginia down which is a fast team.”

Clemson’s next game leaves it with only a day’s rest until they take the field again. After a fast pace game such as Friday’s, they need all the time they can to recover.

“It’s about getting the players back into a recovery state,” Radwanski said. “A big part of it is having the right mindset mentally to focus on such a quick turnaround. But we have great depth with our bench. We have a lot of players that can play that didn’t today.”

The Clemson women’s soccer team will play Sunday at Historic Riggs Field in Clemson as it plays Liberty.