The NC State men’s soccer team travels to Clemson in the last regular season game of the year on Saturday night.
The Wolfpack (8-4-3, 2-3-2) has a slim chance to host a game in the first round of the ACC Tournament, but will need a victory over the Tigers (6-8-1, 1-6-0) for that to be possible.
Clemson is coming off its first ACC win of the season, a 3-2 victory over No. 20 Syracuse. It was the first win for the Tigers since Oct. 2 against the College of Charleston. In between those two wins, Clemson had a four-game losing streak, but three of them were by one goal and two were in overtime. It’s a down year for the Tigers, but they are not a team to look past.
NC State will be without sophomore forward Manny Perez, who has been called up to the U.S. U-20 National Team for the second time this year.
This matchup figures to be a defensive battle, as the Wolfpack is last in the ACC in scoring with 1.2 goals per game, while Clemson is 10th in the 12-team league with 1.3 goals per game.
Adrian Nunez leads the Tigers and is tied for eighth in the ACC with six goals this year. Junior midfielder Gabriel Machado leads NC State with four goals while sophomore midfielder Brad Sweeney has three goals on the campaign.
Sophomore goalkeeper Leon Krapf has played every minute in net for the Pack and has been spectacular. He’s allowing 0.95 goals per game and has a .754 save percentage. Krapf has seven shutouts this year.
George Marks and Jonny Sutherland have split most of the time in net for the Tigers. Marks has a 1.10 goals against average and .625 save percentage, while Sutherland has gotten more time but has a 1.62 GAA and .568 save percentage. Marks has been in net the last two games.
