Salt Lake City, Utah – The Clemson Tigers took down Utah 1-0 as Makenna Morris sealed the victory with a lone goal and goalkeeper Halle Mackiewicz recorded her fourth clean sheet.
“This is a very good win for us. You’re on the road, there’s elevation and adjustments that they have to do and our group was up for the challenge,” Head Coach Eddie Radwanski said. “Utah is a Pac-12 school, it’s one of the better conferences in soccer and I thought we did a really good job of disrupting their rhythm.”
Neither team had many chances in the first half, with Clemson recording the lone shot on goal, taken by Sydney Minaik and saved by the Utah keeper in the 33’. Much like on Thursday at Utah Valley, the Tigers broke the scoreless draw early in the second half, as Makenna Morris netted her second goal of the season in the 51’ to give Clemson the 1-0 lead.
“We were going into the second half and we were like, let’s bring some pressure to them and Sami got a great touch and I was there for the deflection,” Morris said. “I’m just happy for our team, we were able to keep the pressure up and keep the ball moving.”
The Tigers continued to put pressure on the Utes, with Dani Davis forcing a Utah save in the 66′, and Emma Wennar forcing another in the 81’. Utah’s only chance came in the 85’, but Halle Mackewicz made the save to keep the clean sheet.
Following this win, Mackiewicz has recorded four clean sheets in a row and keeps her save percentage at a perfect 1.000. The senior tabbed one save against the Utes to bring her total save count to seven for the season.
“Playing defense, playing in the midfield and just knowing she’s back there we just know she is going to come up with some big saves and in both games she came up in big time moments,” Morris said. “She is someone we always have trust in and she has proven it, four donuts on the season and we are just getting started.”
Up next, the Tigers will be back at Riggs to start a three-game homestand. On Thursday, they will face-off against Furman and then will wrap up the weekend by hosting Western Carolina.
