In big games, they often come down to moments. Clemson took advantage of their moment, while West Virginia could not in the College Cup on Friday.
The moment for Clemson came in the 37th minute. Shawn Smart received a pass which bounced once off the turf, before he unleashed a shot into the top right corner of the net.
“It wasn’t necessarily an incredible moment until the finish,” West Virginia coach Dan Stratford said. “If you’re going to smash it into the top corner of the goal, there’s only so much we can do. Games like this can be decided by a magic moment and obviously he had one.”
West Virginia had a prime moment in the 58th minute. Marcus Caldeira ended with the ball on his foot, one-on-one with the Clemson goalkeeper. Caldeira couldn’t put the ball where he wanted and it went over the net.
Those two moments would be the difference as West Virginia fell 1-0 to Clemson in the national semifinals of the College Cup, marking an end to their historic season.
“I couldn’t be more proud of the team. The effort we showed to come in for our first Final Four and take it to a very good Clemson side,” Stratford said. “My biased opinion, my feeling is we were the better team and deserved much, much, more.”
The goal came after a failed clear by the Mountaineers, and then Clemson used two players including a touch into the air and then a header, finding the foot of Smart.
West Virginia (17-3-4) was making their first ever appearance in the College Cup, while Clemson (14-3-5) was making their 10th appearance.
The Mountaineers seemed to take control of the game early on in the first half. They held firm possession and had multiple chances at the net.
Clemson would try to figure out WVU’s press, while the Mountianeers were trying to defend the Tigers’ strong attack. Both teams seemed stymied early. West Virginia’s best chance of the first half came with about 15 minutes to play in the opening 45 minutes.
Sergio Ors Navarro had a good feed deep in the box from Yutaro Tsukada. Ors Navarro would try to peel it around the Clemson keeper, but he couldn’t quite get the touch he needed on it.
“The two very good chances, Sergio has a good chance, Marcus has a good chance,” Stratford said.
Clemson’s goal would come minutes after, finally getting the break they needed in WVU’s defense, and then Mohamed Seye found Smart for the score.
West Virginia held the ball often in the second half, but failed to consistently find quality chances. Caldeira’s chance was missed, while Ors Navarro also had a chance but couldn’t quite catch up to a pass from Kyle Lenhert.
Another chance came late in the second half when West Virginia had possession inside of the penalty area. It appeared there was a chance for a foul, but the referee would not blow the whistle, not awarding WVU a penalty kick.
“I think the ref missed a key, key, moment,” Stratford said.
“You just never want a game at this point of the season to be decided by that margin to be the difference because it does leave a bitter taste. It’s upsetting, it’s disappoint because im so, so, proud of the performance. There’s in my opinion quite a clear call that wasn’t made. The biggest kicker is that’s a call that if he makes, he can review. If he gets it right, it’s not a penalty, he can review it, and change his mind. But when he doesn’t give it, he can’t review it. And that hurts even more because I’ve seen the replay.”
In the end, West Virginia finished with nine shots and just two shots on goal. Clemson had eight shots in total and five of them were on goal.
In the loss, West Virginia was shutout for just the second time all season, while the Tigers put together their fourth consecutive shutout performance in the NCAA Tournament.
