Before the Game- a Perspective on Women's Soccer

Dec 1, 2023, 6:25 PM

We are now less than an hour away from what is probably the biggest game in the history of Clemson women's soccer. The drama is about to unfold. But before kickoff, let us take a moment to remember how we got here.

Regardless of what happens tonight (or perhaps Sunday), this has already been a wildly successful season for the Tigers, and that should not change based on what happens in tonight's game. In fact, I think few would argue that this is already the single greatest season in the history of Clemson women's soccer. And that is not a trivial statement, as this program has been good for years.

For much of their history, and particularly during the past decade or so during my youth, it seemed that Clemson was perpetually a top-20 type team. They were almost always good, and usually very consistent. Their teams almost always made the tournament, and always seemed to attract and produce talent, with an impressive pedigree of alumni who went on to play professionally and internationally.

But the knock on the Tigers was that they seemed to have plateaued: they never could "get over the hump" against superior competition. Clemson would rarely falter against inferior teams, and they achieved plenty of impressive wins over other teams in similar standing with the Tigers, usually in that 10-20 range in the rankings. But whenever they played against elite opponents, teams inside the top 10 or the top 5, Clemson always seemed to come up short. Florida State and some of the more dominant SEC teams would frequently be in that category. As consistently good as Clemson was, this grew to be very frustrating because it seemed that despite all the winning, the team just never could manage to take that last, most difficult step from being a great team to being an elite national title contender. This would go on for years, and was compounded by a trend of early NCAA tournament exits which always seemed to plague the Tigers.

In the preseason documentary on Clemson+, Coach Radwanski and at least one of the players (Hal Hershfelt, I believe) referenced the postseason disappointment of the previous year, and talked about how they felt that this team had the potential to make a deeper postseason run, with the specific goal of equaling some of the previous Clemson squads who had reached the elite 8. No Clemson team had ever made it to the final 4.

Well, the rest, as we know, is history. The Tigers went on to have a great regular season, finishing 3rd in the ACC with their only 2 losses coming to the teams that finished ahead of them, Florida State and Notre Dame. Clemson didn't lose a nonconference game all year. The Tigers would then avenge the Notre Dame loss in the ACC tournament, beating the Irish to advance to the final where they would lose to Florida State to finish as runners up in the ACC tournament. This would earn them a 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, where the Tigers would beat Georgia on penalties to accomplish their preseason goal of making it back to the elite 8. Clemson would then make history at Historic Riggs Field on Saturday, beating Penn State to become the first team in Clemson women's soccer history to advance to the final four.

My point in all of that is this: the team should be playing with house money by now. They have already accomplished what any reasonable observer would have expected of them before the season based on their recent past. And they have already surpassed all expectations (except for their own, perhaps) by becoming that first and only team to ever reach the college cup. To be clear, I do not intend for this piece to be interpreted as a justification for a predicted loss, or to suggest that what happens from here on out doesn't matter. It is, in fact, quite the opposite. I want and expect for Clemson to win as much as anyone does, and in the final four, the stakes could hardly be higher. Let us just remember to keep things in perspective, and realize that this is the icing on the cake. A loss tonight at Cary should not change our perception of this season as a massive success. A win, however, would only make this already legendary season all the more spectacular.

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Go Tigers!!!***

Also should not forget what type of program Radwanski walked into

Before the Game- a Perspective on Women's Soccer

Go Tigers!!!***

Also should not forget what type of program Radwanski walked into

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