Aug. 26, 2009

Box Score

Clemson, S.C. - Clemson scored two goals in the first half to take control of the game and went on to take a 4-1 victory over USC Upstate in a men's soccer exhibition game Wednesday night at Riggs Field.

Upstate ended its preseason preparation with the match and will turn its attention to the regular season opener against Georgia State Tuesday afternoon at 4:00 at County University Soccer Stadium. Clemson also ended its preseason preparations and will take on Gardner-Webb in its regular season opener Tuesday night at 7:00 at Riggs Field.

"It's good to play games like this against a program the stature of Clemson," said Upstate head coach Greg Hooks. "Clemson is a quality program and they have the type of players who can expose your weaknesses. It's good for us to learn what we need to improve on as we move forward to the start of the regular season. I think the biggest thing we learned is that we have to play every second of every game. If we don't, teams will score goals against us at this level."

Upstate goalkeeper Pat Regna was busy early on and made two saves in first five minutes on solid scoring opportunities for Clemson. Clemson scored on its third solid scoring opportunity when Tommy Drake and Keegan Priest played passes down the right side of the box and drew Regna off his line just enough to slide a pass to Eric Cava in the middle of the keeper's box. Cava put the shot away to the right of a diving Regna in the seventh minute to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead.

After the initial charge by Clemson early in the game, Upstate settled in and worked to get better possessions. The Spartans were able to get two shots off over the next 20 minutes and maintained possession more consistently.

However, Clemson broke through in the 33rd minute to open a 2-0 lead and take command of the game. Priest picked up another assist when he collected the ball just outside of the penalty box and played the ball off to Austin Savage 16 yards out in the middle of the box. He fired a shot to the left of Regna to give Clemson a 2-0 lead.

Upstate and Clemson played the final 12 minutes of the first half to a scoreless tie the rest of the way as the Tigers took its 2-0 advantage into the intermission. Clemson out-shot Upstate 7-3 and owned a 2-1 lead in corner kicks. Regna made two saves in the first half to lead Upstate.

Yildirim produced Upstate's best scoring opportunity to that point of the game when his second shot of the half from just outside the 6-yard box was deflected over the end line by a Tiger defender for a corner kick.

Upstate almost cracked the scoreboard early in the second half. Maurice Beggs broke through the Clemson defense and drew two of the three Tiger defenders to the center of the field. He slid a pass into open space on the right side of the box where Yildirim hammered a shot just to the right of the goal.

After Upstate held the Tigers at bay for the first 25 minutes of the second half, Clemson put together a couple of scoring opportunities with just under 20 minutes to play in the game. Both shots, one from 25 yards out and one a header from six yards out, sailed wide right of the goal.

Clemson scored its third goal of the game in the 74th minute when Drake played a ball into the middle of the box to Savage. Savage, with his back to the goal, played the ball back to the top of the box to Mike Mattson where the forward placed a shot in the upper right 90 just by a charging Regna.

Clemson added to its lead with a penalty kick goal in the 81st minute. After a foul by Upstate in the box, Drake stepped up to take the penalty and put the ball in the upper right portion of the box for the 4-0 lead.

Upstate cracked the scoreboard with less than two minutes to play when Ben Brannan played a cross from the left side to Nick Buxton at the top of the box. Buxton fired a shot that sailed into the top of the net by Tiger keeper J.D. Spearman.

Clemson finished the game with a 13-5 lead in shots and 7-1 advantage in corner kicks. Yildirim finished the game with three shots to lead Upstate, while Regna made two saves in the match.