Ninth-ranked Clemson fell to the defending national champion Florida State, 2-1, Thursday at Historic Riggs Field in Clemson.
The sixth-ranked Seminoles got two first-half goals from Yujie Zhao and Deyna Castellanos and then hung on in the second half to earn the victory.
FSU (8-2, 2-0 ACC) started strong as its two goals came within the first 20 minutes of the match. Clemson fought back with a goal from freshman Maliah Morris in the 43rd minute, her third of the season, to bring the halftime score to 2-1.
However, it was the last time either time found the back of the net.
“We may have started slow and we were a bit poor, but Florida State was very good,” head coach Eddie Radwanksi told The Clemson Insider. “They punished us and that’s what a defending national championship team will do. A good response at the end of the half, where we kind of figured out and started to play and got the goal. In the second half, it was a much better effort and we had moments of quality and made the game close, but the reality was that Florida State was the better team today.”
After the half, Clemson (7-1-1, 1-1 ACC) fought hard to tie up the match but it was unable to put any scoring plays together. It was the Tigers’ first loss of the season.
“We take it one game at a time,” Radwanski said. “We focus on this game and then we have to focus on recovery now and get ready to play on Sunday when we play Virginia Tech and that’s the only thing that’s really on our radar.”
The Tigers will host Virginia Tech at Historic Riggs Field with kickoff scheduled for 1 p.m.
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