Clemson men's soccer named NCAA No. 1 overall seed |
Clemson men's soccer was named the No. 1 national seed for the NCAA Tournament on Monday.
The 36-team NCAA Tournament will be held in North Carolina starting April 29 and running through a May 17 National Championship at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary. The Tigers will open with the winner of Jacksonville (7-4-1) and American (4-1-2) on May 2. Clemson (13-3-2) essentially won a championship in two segments of the 2020-21 season, capturing the ACC Tournament in November and then securing the ACC's NCAA automatic bid on Saturday -- each time beating a No. 1-ranked Pittsburgh team (13-3). Following Saturday’s result, Clemson improved its unbeaten streak at home to 25 consecutive matches, a streak that ranks third all-time in program history. In the middle of that run, Clemson had three first-team All-ACC performers move on to professional soccer with Philip Mayaka, Kimarni Smith and Grayson Barber (Defender Justin Malou was selected in the MLS SuperDraft as well but opted to delay joining the pro ranks until after the extended college season). In non-pandemic years, the season would have been contained to just the fall semester. Despite those departures, Clemson went 5-1-1 over the spring campaign to strengthen its resume. This is the first time since 1998 that Clemson enters the NCAA Tournament as the top-seeded team. The program has won two national championships, in 1984 and 1987, with the 1987 championship being won in Clemson at Riggs Field against San Diego State. The winner of the NCAA Tournament will be designated as the 2020 national champion. #ClemsonUnited has received the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Men’s Soccer Tournament! ???? pic.twitter.com/KzGlJwGbyR Congratulations to #ClemsonUnited on this accomplishment! A special season for Coach Noonan and team continues. https://t.co/XVTdLbXPPp
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