Clemson, S.C. – After a day of waiting due to inclement weather, the Bulldogs finally faced off with the No. 9 ranked Clemson Tigers in their NCAA Division I second round match on Thursday afternoon at Clemson University.

Gardner-Webb’s record setting season came to an end on Thursday afternoon, as the ‘Dogs came up just short, falling to Clemson, 3-1.

The Tigers struck first when at the 11:23 mark Dane Richards was brought down in the penalty box by a GWU defender allotting the Tigers with a penalty kick.  Richards then put the penalty kick past a diving Tyler Kettering into the lower left back corner of the net giving the heavily favored Tigers an early 1-0 lead.

In the 15^th minute of the match, the ‘Dogs Miguel Pinzon tried to even up the score gathering in a loose ball in the center of the field 25 yards out where he put a low shot toward the goal only to be stopped by Clemson’s keeper Phil Marfuggi.

The ‘Dogs next best chance came with 7:55 remaining in the first half, when Richard Godfrey hit an open Logan Swaim on the right side of the penalty box who took a dribble and fired a shot just high of the goal.

Clemson would have two breakaway chances in the next 10 minutes of the half, as they got behind the GWU defense only to put both shots wide of the net.

The Tigers once again got through the Bulldog defense with only 1:15 remaining in the half, as Richards got open on the left off the box and put a shot on frame.  However, GWU keeper Tyler Kettering made a great diving kick save to deflect the ball offline and send it flying off to the right side of the field.

For what was a very physical half with both teams combining for 22 fouls, the Tigers out shot the Bulldogs, 12-6, with both teams combining for only three shots on goal.

The second half opened up very different than the first, as both teams played sloppy trading off control of the ball for much of the first 20 minutes.

In the 50^th minute, the ‘ Dogs Swaim put a beautiful touch shot from close to 20 yards out on frame making Clemson’s keeper Marfuggi make a jumping one-handed safe to protect the Tiger’s 1-0 lead.

GWU’s Boris Gatzky had his shot stopped in the 58^th minute as he lined up from just outside the top of the box after dribbling through two Tiger defenders.

The GWU defense was stifling early in the second period, as the Tigers first shot would not come until 21 minutes into the second half when David Bell got loose on the right side of the box, putting a shot wide right of the goal.

Yet the Tigers offense would start to come on, as they got off six shots over the next eight minutes putting only one of those shots on frame which was stopped by Kettering. 

The Tigers would add an insurance goal in the 76^th minute when Bryson Moore took a pass from Richards and Danny Poe put a shot into the top left of the goal from just outside the box on the left side of the field giving the Tigers a 2-0 advantage.

Less than a minute later at the 77:16 mark a foul in the box by the GWU defense gave the Tigers their second penalty kick of the game.  Clemson would increase their lead to 3-0 on a penalty kick by Frederico Moojan as he put just out of reach of a diving Kettering.

Yet the ‘Dogs did not roll over, as in the 78^th minute sophomore Chris Salvaggione got behind the Clemson defense and took a pass from senior Carlton Hughes right in front of the net.  Salvaggione took one touch on the pass and put the shot into the lower left of the net putting GWU on the board and cutting the Tiger lead to 3-1.

Gardner-Webb got off four shots in the last 10 minutes, but no avail as none of the shots found the back of the net.

Senior keeper Tyler Kettering finished the match with two saves, as he faced a total off 22 Clemson shots for the match.  The two saves on the day gives Kettering a total of 116 stops for the season and 446 for his career.

The 2006 Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament Champions finished the season with an overall record of 9-8-4 and advanced to the second round of their first ever NCAA Division I tournament.

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