Sept. 17, 2010
Final Stats
CLEMSON, S.C.- The Coastal Carolina women's soccer team made a bold statement tonight by defeating Atlantic Coast Conference opponent Clemson 1-0 at Clemson's Historic Riggs Field.
The win moves the Chanticleers to even on the season at 4-4-0 and drops Clemson to 5-3-0. The match was the second 1-0 win for the Chants in as many games as Coastal defeated Appalachian State on Sept. 10 by the same score.
In the waning moments of the final minute of regulation, the game appeared to be going to overtime at a 0-0 score before freshman forward Amanda Clark scored on a breakaway goal with seven seconds remaining in regulation. The streaking Clark was fed the ball by Anna Tupy. Tupy had taken on several defenders on the play and kept her eyes downfield to find Clark before she slotted Clark a nice pass into the open field.
The goal was the first in Clark's young career. Clark joins Hannah Brown, Kate Wilkinson, and sister Alyssa Clark as freshmen to score in the season.
Coastal kept great offensive pressure on the Tigers throughout the night. The Chants had a great opportunity to score in the 73rd minute to break the 0-0 tie. Sophomore Maggie McGavin was on the verge of a breakaway when she spotted up from 22 yards out and fired a shot that went just wide of the goal.
On the defensive side of the ball, the Chanticleers were just as aggressive and shutdown the impressive Clemson attack that has scored 15 goals on the season.
"Our back line was smart and did their jobs well," said head coach Tammy DeCesare. "They had a lot to contend with the dangerous Clemson attack, but were able to keep their composures and play at a high level."
The shutout win was the first for sophomore keeper Jessica Barton as she faced nine shots, four of which were on goal. Barton recorded one save in the first half and three in the second; including two within the final five minutes of the contest.
"Barton had a solid performance tonight," said Decesare. "She maintained a strong presence in the box all night."
Statistically the two teams were nearly equal in every category. Both team recorded nine shots on the night, but Coastal held a 5-4 advantage in shots on goal. Each team tallied two corner kicks and four saves.
"Overall tonight's game was a good battle between two rising teams," said DeCesare. "It is always difficult to go on the road and claim a victory over an ACC opponent, but we were able to get the job done tonight."
The Chanticleers will stay on the road over the weekend as they make the trip down to Georgia Southern to take on the Eagles in a Sunday afternoon matinee. Kickoff for the game is scheduled for 3 p.m.
