Greenville Leader

The Clemson Tigers downed No. 2-seeded Washington 2-0 on Sunday to secure the 2021 NCAA men’s soccer championship.

Clemson interim athletic director Graham Neff expressed pride at the team’s accomplishments.

“I feel like we have the best fans in the country,” Neff said. “I feel like we have the best facility in the country behind us. I feel like we have the best head coach in the country, Mike Noonan, and now we officially have the best team in the country.”  

Junior forward Isaiah Reid scored with just 27 seconds into the College Cup title game that would prove to be all the scoring the Tigers would need.   

Reid, a Rock Hill, South Carolina, native, scored both goals in the victory and was designated as the College Cup Most Outstanding Offensive Player, according to the school.

“The second half was controlled by the Tigers, and George Marks, later named the Defensive MVP of the College Cup, organized the Tigers in the back end,” the school said in a news release. “He saved both of his chances on the day in picking up the clean sheet, his ninth of the season. The Tigers managed just four shots in the game but made them count as two of them found the back of the net. Washington managed nine shots, with two [on goal].” 

The school reported that several thousand Tigers fans made the four-hour trip to WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina, to watch the victory as the team vanquished the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 4, No. 9 and overall seeds on its tournament run. 

Clemson sports has seven national championships in school history as the soccer teams joins football (1981, 2016, 2018) and men’s golf (2003) as Tiger squads with titles.

According to a news release, Clemson is the only school in the nation with three or more national championships in both men’s soccer and football.