In recent years, men’s soccer matches between Notre Dame and Clemson certainly haven’t lacked drama. Penalty-kick shootouts, back-and-forth barnburners, championship stakes — the series has had it all since 2021.
Friday night added yet another thriller to the list, as the Irish toppled the 12th-ranked Tigers at Alumni Stadium by a 2-1 score. Senior forward Matthew Roou, talisman and leader of Notre Dame’s recent offensive surge, scored the 86th-minute goal that made the difference — his seventh goal in the last three games. Now at 4-1-3 on the season and 2-1 in Atlantic Coast Conference play, the Irish have their eyes on rejoining the national rankings.
Notre Dame’s takedown of Clemson marked its third consecutive victory and second consecutive weather-delayed win. Due to the lingering effects of Hurricane Helene down south, the Tigers encountered issues making their way to South Bend, forcing a 30-minute travel day. When the match finally began, both teams took a little while to pick up the pace and intensity of play.
Notre Dame developed the evening’s first series of chances in the opening 25 minutes. Twice the Irish found Roou, who entered the match on back-to-back hat tricks, making threatening runs through the Clemson back line. On the first occasion, he trickled in behind the defense on a bouncing ball atop the 6-yard box. However, the hip-high apex of the ball forced Roou to slow down, allowing his defender just enough time to recover and deaden his shot with pressure. Later on, he found himself in a footrace with Adam Lundegard to track down a through ball at the penalty spot, but Clemson keeper Joseph Andema smothered the chance.
When the Tigers played in South Bend last year, they scored twice in the final five minutes of the first half. So, sure enough, Clemson began to turn the momentum in its favor with several quality looks right before halftime. Two dangerous free kicks, one that zipped past numerous reaching Tigers at the back post and another that freshman goalkeeper Blake Kelly snagged with his fingertips, bookended a close-range shot on goal for Clemson. In the 34th minute, Antonio Illuminato wove through the Irish defense to receive a pass and form a shooting lane at the 6-yard area’s left corner. There, he whipped a left-footed strike that Kelly, with no reaction time whatsoever, kicked away for a corner kick.
As the scoreless match carried into the second half, Clemson maintained its pressure in the attacking third. In the 56th minute, that pressure paid off. Titus Sandy Jr. soared a cross from the right sideline in toward the penalty spot, where Illuminato leapt to guide a header on goal. The redirection targeted the left post on one bounce, catching Kelly favoring the opposite post due to the origin of Sandy’s service. Still, Kelly recovered to nearly make a remarkable save, pushing the ball off to his right side on a dive. But the force behind Illuminato’s header kept the ball moving into the side netting, resulting in a 1-0 lead for Clemson.
The lead, however, would last all of 160 seconds. Freshman forward Stevie Dunphy created a bad turnover on the Clemson back line and stepped around his defender to go in on a breakaway from the left side. After initially backing off, Andema came out to greet him at the corner of the 6-yard, but Dunphy swept his left-footed shot underneath him. The ball trickled just inside the right post, finishing Dunphy’s first career goal and tying the match at 1-1.
Less than a minute later, Clemson worsened its situation. Upon losing the ball near midfield, Lundegard attacked sophomore midfielder Wyatt Lewis with a sliding, two-footed challenge that left referee David Erbacher without a choice. The official reached into his back pocket and displayed the red card that would leave Clemson down a man for the game’s final half hour.
The Irish had seen this situation before. Only 13 days earlier, in their ACC opener against Stanford, they had played essentially the entire second half with a one-man advantage while down a goal. Notre Dame, however, could not find an equalizer, as Stanford survived by parking the bus and defending to perfection for 44 minutes.
For the 25 minutes that followed Lundegard’s ejection, it seemed that the Irish wouldn’t generate enough offense to capitalize on Friday night, either. Notre Dame played very cautiously and ended up only outshooting Clemson by a 4-3 margin in the second half. In fact, the Tigers countered with a noteworthy chance in the 84th minute, but Remi Okunlola sent a screaming shot high from 20 yards out. Notre Dame marched right back the other way, only for a heavy touch by Roou to kill off a prime 2-on-1 setup from sophomore forward Jack Flanagan.
Fortunately for the Irish, Roou wouldn’t miss out on the next look at goal.
Just as he did to set up Roou’s first goal last Tuesday against Detroit Mercy, senior midfielder Bryce Boneau flicked a feed through multiple opposing defenders, sending the leading Irish scorer in ahead of the three-man Tiger back line. Once more, Roou waited on the bouncing ball, affording Clemson’s defenders a chance to regain their positioning. But Roou’s opportunity to fire from 12 yards out remained and would suffice. The senior forward’s half-volley caught the backside of a Tiger, setting it up to spin precisely beyond Andema’s reach and inside the left post. With less than five minutes remaining, Notre Dame had taken its first lead of the night.
That lead, unlike Clemson’s, would survive to the final whistle and seal Notre Dame’s second ranked win of the season.
Up next, the Irish will take on Division III program Trine at 7 p.m. on Tuesday at Alumni Stadium. Competing in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletics Association, the Thunder are 2-5 and on a three-match losing skid. When they last faced Notre Dame in 2021, the Irish attempted 36 shots and won by a 13-0 score.
