Megan Bornkamp scored first and assisted the second goal for the Tigers. (Clemson athletics photo)

by TigerNet Staff - Fri Nov 17 19:33:42 GMT-04:00 2023

No.1 seed Clemson women’s soccer advanced to the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16 round with a 2-1 win over the eighth-seeded Columbia Lions at Riggs Field on Friday.

The Tigers move on to face 4-seed Georgia at 2 p.m. on Sunday at Riggs Field. Clemson played Georgia to a 1-1 draw in Athens earlier this season. The Bulldogs downed 5-seed Iowa 3-2 earlier on Friday in Clemson.

After Clemson outshot Radford 26-0 to start the tournament last week, the action wasn't quite as lopsided on Friday, but the Tigers (17-3-3) largely controlled the game again.

Columbia’s first shot didn’t come for nearly 25 minutes, and roughly four minutes later, Clemson broke through for its first goal.

The Tigers’ pressure forced a turnover that Renee Lyles quickly fed to Megan Bornkamp for her fourth goal of the season. Bornkamp then returned the favor as part of the assist to Lyles to score in the 33rd minute, her sixth goal this season.

Clemson held a 9-1 shots advantage at the half, with five coming on goal.

ACC goalkeeper of the year Halle Mackiewicz, who was a late pregame scratch from Clemson’s NCAA Tournament opener last week, faced her second shot of the game in the 62nd minute, where Columbia’s Nata Ramirez came open over the middle and fired a shot that deflected off Mackiewicz and into the net.

The Lions (11-5-3) sustained more pressure than the first half but managed just two more shots after their goal, but neither made it to Mackiewicz. Clemson finished with a 12-4 shot advantage (6-2 on goal).

“We were very dominant in the first half and came away with two goals, we played really well and kept the pressure on Columbia,” Clemson head coach Eddie Radwanski said, via news release. “This (is) the NCAA Tournament, we are not playing weak teams, these are good teams so credit to Columbia for resiliency. We had the lead and we kept our composure. These kinds of things happen when you get in these knock-out competitions and the kids are not invincible to do it so sometimes you have to handle a little bit of adversity and all these games have it. I liked the fact that we passed the test, liked the fact that we dominated statistically and we were, for the most part, in control.”

Both teams entered the matchup in the Top 25 nationally in goals against average.

Sunday's match will be shown on ACCNX and tickets are $8 for adults, $3 for children under the age of 12 and children under the age of two get in for free.