Cal Rally falls short in ACC semifinals

CARY, NC – The California men’s soccer team rallied after trailing 2-0 to the No. 7 Clemson in the ACC Championship semifinals Thursday night at WakeMed Soccer Park, but despite second-half goals from Malcolm Zalayet and Adrian Jacobsthe Golden Bears fell 3-2 to the defending NCAA and ACC champion to end their run in the conference tournament.

The Bears had been in the Tar Heel State since Nov. 4 and upset No. 14 North Carolina 2-1 and no. 2 Duke 1-0 on the way to the semifinals. But their journey ended one step short of Sunday’s final. The result also snapped the Bears’ three-game winning streak, leaving their record at 8-8-2.

Clemson, which improved to 14-2-3, advances to face Wake Forest in Sunday’s ACC Championship final.

Cal – which used the same starting lineup in the last four games – started the game on the front foot. Less than two minutes into the game, Santiago Hopkins’ well placed cross found Nonso Adimabua deep in the Clemson box, but the big forward’s header skimmed off the crossbar. In the fifth minute, a nice build-up by the Bears resulted in a shot from the midfielder Gaku Nishimura that went wide.

But the Tigers quickly countered, getting a goal from Tyler Trimnal later in the fifth minute to take a 1-0 lead.

In the 23rd minute, Clemson forward Alex Meinhard scored in a crowded field to cut Cal’s deficit to 2-0.

Cal got on the scoreboard at the 50:10 mark. After Clemson goalkeeper Patrick Donavan parried a Cal cross out of his box, Cal’s Alfredo Ortiz took a long shot that Donavan saved and then Eric Duncan took a shot that was blocked with the ball lifted into the box by Rohan McElligott. The Cal midfielder headed the ball down to his feet Malcolm Zalayetwho knocked the ball into the net from close range.

The Bears kept attacking and at 61:51, Ortiz crossed the ball toward the Clemson box. A Tiger – clearing the ball away from a Bear at the top of the field – sent the ball deeper into the field. Duncan put it in and played a short pass to Zalayet, who scored his first goal as a Bear to tie the game at 2-2.

In the 66th minute, Clemson’s Ransford Gyan – ACC Freshman of the Year – scored from close range to give the Tigers a 3-2 lead.

Cal outscored Clemson 5-1 the rest of the way. Cal defender and co-captain Wyatt Meyer came close with his shot at 79:04, with his shot just wide. Adimabua produced the Bears’ last chance of the game, with a shot from 15 yards out that Donovan saved.

“We’re disappointed,” Cal head coach Leonard Griffin said. “I’m proud of the group. We’ve been in every game and showed we can play with anyone in the country. That never changed. We also showed that never-stop mentality tonight. After the first half, we made some adjustments at halftime and the guys bounced back But credit to their team – Clemson came up with a big goal to end the game.

“But I love our group. We fought until the end. If we’re going to go down, we’re going to go down with a fight, and that’s what we did tonight.”

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