Clemson United wins, Noonan Earns 400th victory

CLEMSON — Behind three first-half goals, No. 8 Clemson downed Queens University of Charlotte, 4-2, Tuesday at Historic Riggs Field.

The win moves Clemson to 8-2-2 on the season and gives head coach Mike Noonan his 400th career victory.

Noonan became the 27th head coach in NCAA history to earn 400 wins and is the 5th all-time winningest coach among active head coaches.

After a back-and-forth match early on, Clemson found their stride and took a two-score lead. In the 64th minute, a cross from sophomore Arthur Duquenne found the head of forward Tyler Trimnal, who clinched the match with his goal.

Both scores from the Royals seemed tossed aside as the Tigers fought hard to attack on the counter. After 25 minutes of Clemson attack and failed opportunities, the Royals earned the matches first goal after only taking two total shots up to that point.

The Tigers responded immediately, scoring 24 seconds later off a score by forward Wahabu Musah. All of the momentum that Queens had earned from scoring first diminished instantly, as Clemson finally found its stride.

“It was good. Again, four goals from four different players, I think all of them were forwards,” Noonan said. “The immediate response means a lot because you start doubting yourself a little bit.”

A few minutes later, the scoreboard was raised by the Royals, with forward Ciro Bourlot Jaeggi hitting the bottom right corner of the net for a score. As if it was deja vu, Clemson scored the equalizer just minutes later off a strike by freshman midfielder Ransford Gyan.

Queens couldn’t find a way to hold onto the lead.

The Tigers did not stop there, putting up shot after shot on the Royals defense. Clemson grabbed the lead when graduate forward Alex Meinhard shot a long ball into the far bottom corner of the goal in the 43rd minute.

From there, the Tigers dominated the second period, adding the score from Trimnal to secure the victory

“I felt like it wasn’t gonna fall for me, but I just kept pushing and finally got my goal,” Trimnal said.

Clemson United will stay in town to face the Upstate Spartans next Tuesday at 7 p.m.

–Clemson Athletic Communications Contributed to the story