Clemson Stuns No. 3 Stanford with Late Equalizer in Thrilling 2-2 Draw
The Clemson Tigers faced off against the No.3-ranked Stanford Cardinal, coming off a 1-1 draw against the Georgia Bulldogs on Sunday night. A goal from Stanford’s Jasmine Aikey, her seventh of the year, gave the Cardinal a 1-0 lead heading into the break. In the second half, Andrea Kitahata’s penalty in the 51’ gave Stanford a 2-0 lead, but an 81’ goal from Taylor Leib cut the Stanford lead down to one late. Just a few moments later, in the 89’, Clemson tied it off the head of Elle Bissinger to draw the game at two apiece. Clemson goes to 3-1-4, while Stanford goes to 7-1-1.
Passive Start from Clemson
It’s no question that Clemson took a page out of UCLA’s playbook in tonight’s game after the Bruins took down Stanford 2-0 to hand the Cardinal their first loss of the season on Sunday. The Tigers played just like the Bruins did to start the first half, very passively. Clemson stayed back on defense, rarely even trying to start something on the counter attack. Through the first 15 minutes, Stanford got off four shots on the Tigers, with three of those being on target.
Stanford Opens the Scoring
Clemson was flirting with disaster for most of the first half, allowing Stanford to be all over their half of the field. The Cardinal finally capitalized on Clemson’s passivity with a worldie of a goal from Jasmine Aikey. The Senior midfielder received a pass from Joelle Jung towards the right side of the penalty area with no space to get off a pass or a shot. Somehow, Aikey looped the ball over Mackenzie Duff and goalkeeper, Addy Holgorsen, and into the bottom left corner of the goal to give Stanford a well deserved 1-0 lead in the 21’.
Dominant First Half From Stanford
Stanford clearly took their loss against UCLA on Sunday personally, as they came out guns blazing in the first half against Clemson. The Cardinal had a whopping 12 shots to Clemson’s 0, while seven of those 12 were on target and one found the back of the net. Stanford also had three more corner kicks than Clemson, while dominating the possession as well.
Stanford Converts on Penalty
The Cardinal continued to put the pressure on Clemson in the second half as a corner kick led to a penalty. Clemson’s Jolie Jenkins had her hands up by her face while trying to defend Stanford’s corner kick, and committed a handball in the box, giving Stanford a penalty kick to go up by two. The Cardinal’s Andrea Kitahata took full advantage of Jenkins’ mistake by slotting her spot kick into the top right corner of the goal to give her team a 2-0 lead in the 51’.
Clemson Gets a Goal Back
Late in the second half, the Tigers were finally able to get on the board and put some pressure on Stanford. The goal started off a really well-placed corner kick that gave Clemson’s Elle Bissenger a free header in the box, but after that rang off the crossbar, Juju Harris was there to get a shot off but it was saved by Stanford’s goalkeeper, Caroline Birkel. Luckily for Clemson, Taylor Leib was standing in front of the net to put away her first career goal and cut the Cardinal lead to one in the 81’.
Clemson Equalizes at the Death
A mind-boggling finish in Clemson, South Carolina sees the Tigers draw their fourth game of the year with late-game heroics. Once again, the goals started off a well-placed corner kick from Jolie Jenkins into the middle of the penalty area. Elle Bissinger found her head on the ball just like in Clemson’s first goal of the game, but this time, Bissinger knocked it into the back of the net to equalize the score in the 89’. Just seconds later, what looked to be a buzzer beating goal for Stanford was called off for offsides, giving Clemson an unbelievable draw against the nation’s third-best squad.
Takeaways
Good fight from Clemson. In a game where they were clearly the lesser of two teams, talent wise, Clemson was able to fight back after going down 2-0. Two goals within the last 10 minutes of the game is exactly the kind of fight everyone wants to see out of their team and Clemson did just that tonight. Clemson was dominated in every facet of tonight’s game, whether it was possession, shots, shots on target, or corner kicks, Stanford led the way.
Eddie Radwanski’s team may be young, but they have more than enough fight to win or tie games that they had no business being in.
Up Next
The Clemson Tigers will take on the California Golden Bears at 1:00 PM on Sunday, September 14, the final game of Clemson’s six-game homestand at Historic Riggs Field.
Featured Image Credit to Clemson Athletics
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