Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney hosted his weekly press conference, but he was not alone this Tuesday. After the Clemson men’s soccer team defeated Elon last Sunday, head coach Mike Noonan held a quick presser to discuss the success of the season as well as the upcoming Round of 16 NCAA Tournament game.
Here is what we heard:
After No. 1 Clemson plays South Carolina in Columbia on Saturday, the soccer team will take on U.C. Santa Barbara in the NCAA Tournament Round of 16 on Sunday. Noonan said he wants the fans to pack the stands of Riggs Field for the 6 p.m. game just like Clemson fans did last year at the same time of the year.
“Dabo (Swinney) and I have a couple of things in common. We both have four letters in our first names, but we also have four games to play until the national championship,” Noonan said. “We are an attacking team. We are an exciting team to watch.”
It is an exciting time for Clemson Athletics and for Clemson fans. With Thanksgiving quickly approaching comes the heavily anticipated rivalry game between Clemson and South Carolina. However, Swinney and the players are focused on the task at hand.
“Our focus is to finish strong, have a strong finish and really just trying to play the best four quarters of football this Saturday, just put our best four quarters together is what we want to do and continue to improve our team, and accelerate through the finish line,” Swinney said.
Swinney mentioned that South Carolina’s offense will pose some challenges.
“South Carolina, obviously, a lot of challenges offensively, as far as our defense getting ready for them, because they present a lot of different things,” Swinney said. “Obviously, they’ve had two different coaches, different people calling plays. They’ve done a lot. We’ve seen everything,” Swinney said.
South Carolina suffered its most recent loss this past Saturday, when the Citadel came out on top 23-22. The Gamecocks are now 3-8 for the season, but offensive lineman Eric Mac Lain wishes that was not the case.
“I’m upset. It takes away from our strength of schedule. I would rather them be No. 2 in the nation and this be an 8:00 game on ABC. So no, I do not have any satisfaction for them losing other than to us,” Mac Lain said.
Other players find the loss mildly humorous, but they unanimously state that they will prepare for this game the same way they prepare for every other game.
“They have had a pretty bad season but we have to prepare like the rest of them,” tight end Jordan Leggett said.
“They’re big, they play hard. I mean, they have a good defense,” running back Wayne Gallman said. “You’ve got to respect every team, especially them. They have a losing record, but coming up against us, they’re going to bring their A-game, so you’ve just got to be ready.”
Veteran defensive tackle D.J. Reader has experience being on both the winning and losing side of the rivalry, so he understands just how much of an effect the outcome of the game can have.
“It is something that I realized we live with everyday,” Reader said. “It was something that I didn’t understand at first but now I truly understand that it is a lot deeper than I thought it was.”