All roads lead to the ACC as men’s college soccer’s premier conference will give us the national champion for a third straight season. Clemson has a chance to become the first program to win two titles in three years since Stanford won three in a row between 2015 and 2017. On the other end is Notre Dame, who has exceeded all expectations by winning the ACC regular season title and reaching the College Cup final after preseason polls had them finishing 9th of 12 ACC teams. Although these two met in the regular season, with Notre Dame winning 3-2 at home, that was back on September 9th, and little can pulled when discussing two much-improved teams since then. 

The Irish have clawed their way to the final thanks to two penalty kick victories and several heroic defensive performances. Clemson has scored seven and not conceded in a dominant run to the championship game. The Tigers boast three players who played in their 2021 College Cup triumph, namely Ousmane Sylla, who started that game.  

The key matchup is how Notre Dame will deal with Clemson’s marauding wing-backs while maintaining enough threat on the attacking end. If the Irish remain compact, then the Clemson wing-backs will have the space to provide service, and if they match up in the wide areas, then the space opens up for a supremely technical Clemson team to attack centrally. Fortunately, the Irish run to the final has provided an answer to this dilemma, particularly against Western Michigan, where the team bunkered down and played 83 minutes with ten men, conceding no goals as the backline impressively repelled cross after cross.  

Notre Dame Strengths 

The key strength here is in the defensive chemistry Notre Dame has. Between Paddy Burns, Josh Ramsey, Bryan Dowd, Kyle Genenbacher, and Mitch Ferguson, the Irish have an absurd 294 collegiate games in the back line alone. That experience has shown up time and time again, and it provides the backbone for the Irish to seed possession as they have all tournament but strike quickly on a counter or set-piece opportunity. 

Clemson Strengths 

The Tigers take many liberties in how much their wide players spread the field, leaving many gaps for the brilliant Sylla to exploit. And if a team counters by remaining compact in the midfield, that opens the space and time Clemson needs to beat players 1-on-1 and launch dangerous crosses into the box. It is a debilitating dilemma that has led to the 13-game unbeaten streak the Tigers ride into the final.

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