Clemson Men’s Soccer Claims Fourth ACC Tournament Championship

By Zach Wagner

For the first time since 2014, the third ranked Clemson Men’s Soccer Team claimed victory in the ACC Tournament Championship Game, defeating the #1 ranked  Pitt Panthers by a score of 2-1. The Tigers avenged their loss last season in the Championship Game to Virginia and recorded the 15th ever ACC Championship in school history. 

Redshirt Sophomore James Brighton scored the game winning goal in the 70th minute, slotting a header off a cross from Grayson Barber just past the Panther keeper. At the point in the game of the goal, Pitt controlled all the momentum and the Tigers used the counter-attack to perfection to flip the script. 

Clemson totaled 14 shots on the afternoon, with nine of those shots on net. Nine of those shots came in the first half, including the first goal of the match in the 13th minute off the foot of Mohamed Seye. 

The Tigers headed to the locker room at the intermission with a 1-0 lead after Mohamed Seye gave Clemson the lead just 13 minutes into the contest. It was the first time all season that Pitt had been held scoreless in the first 45 minutes. 

Clemson net tender George Marks recorded four saves on five shots on goal. The junior keeper showed why he is in contention for the award of best keeper in the nation after shutting down the #1 Pitt Panthers offense

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Grayson Barber totaled four assists in the ACC Tournament, breaking the record for most helpers in the history of the tournament. The game winning goal came off the head of James Brighton, but could not be possible without the perfect cross from Barber. 

The Tigers will have to wait until spring for the NCAA Tournament after the NCAA decided to delay the tournament due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The first round through the quarterfinal rounds will be held at the higher seeds home field, and the College Cup Semi-finals and Finals are set for May 13th-17th. 

The schedule for the spring season has not been released yet and the ACC and Clemson are still awaiting approval for the second half of the “COVID” season.

Post game quotes:

Clemson Men's Soccer Head Coach Mike Noonan: "We knew it was going to be a great game and glad we came out on top."#ClemsonSportsNews

— ClemsonSportsNews (@ClemSportNews) November 22, 2020

Noonan: "We had to manage stuff a little different this year and I have to tip my hat to our players for taking care of things and making this possible."#ClemsonSportsNews

— ClemsonSportsNews (@ClemSportNews) November 22, 2020

Noonan says Dabo Swinney came and talked with the team last year and something that stuck is to look through the windshield and not the rear view mirror.#ClemsonSportsNews

— ClemsonSportsNews (@ClemSportNews) November 22, 2020

James Brighton: "That was a preparation goal. We studied that all week, knowing the defender would drift. That's all on Grayson Barbers pass though, he made my job really easy."#ClemsonSportsNews

— ClemsonSportsNews (@ClemSportNews) November 22, 2020

Brighton: "At the beginning of the season, we set out to be the best ACC team ever to play during a pandemic. I'm really proud of this group."#ClemsonSportsNews

— ClemsonSportsNews (@ClemSportNews) November 22, 2020

Khamarni Smith: "Adversity is something that helped this team out a lot. We lost this game last year and we just put our head down and worked."#ClemsonSportsNews

— ClemsonSportsNews (@ClemSportNews) November 22, 2020

Brighton: "The defense was incredible today. They have been all year. We can't do what we do up top without them."

Clemson held Pitt scoreless in the first half for the first time all season. #ClemsonSportsNews

— ClemsonSportsNews (@ClemSportNews) November 22, 2020