No. 3 Clemson Beats No. 16 Wake Forest 2-1 on Gyan Winner

No. 3 Clemson closed its regular season Friday night with a 2-1 win over No. 16 Wake Forest at Historic Riggs Field, on a senior night that ended with the Tigers holding off a late penalty rebound. Clemson finished the regular season at 12-2-2 overall and 6-1-1 in the ACC. Wake Forest fell to 11-4-2 and 5-3 in the ACC.

The first half finished 0-0. Clemson outshot Wake Forest 20-10 over the 90 minutes, and goalkeeper Gaizka Garcia recorded five saves, according to Clemson Athletics and TigerNet, which carried the same match report.

Two goals in 11 minutes

The match turned early in the second half. In the 54th minute, Ransford Gyan drew a foul inside the 18-yard box and Clemson won a penalty kick. Senior Mason Jimenez, one of seven seniors honored before the match, converted the penalty to put the Tigers up 1-0.

Eleven minutes later, Clemson cleared a dangerous Wake Forest corner and freshman Mateo Tsakiris threaded a long pass through the Wake Forest defense. Gyan ran onto it and poked the ball past the keeper in the 65th minute to make it 2-0. It was Gyan's 13th goal of the season and it finished as the game winner.

The late scare

Wake Forest got back into the match in the 69th minute. VAR awarded the Demon Deacons a penalty kick. Garcia stretched to make the initial save, but Wake Forest reached the rebound first and cut the lead to 2-1. Clemson held the score there for the final 21 minutes.

Before kickoff, Clemson honored seven seniors: Martin Bakken, Breno Correia, Arthur Duquenne, Aleksa Janjic, Mason Jimenez, Matthias Leib and Remi Okunlola. Jimenez's penalty meant the senior class left a mark on the scoresheet as well as the ceremony.

The rivalry context

Friday was the 60th meeting between the programs. Wake Forest leads the all time series 27-23-9, according to Clemson's match day notes, and the teams last met in 2025 in Winston-Salem, where Clemson won 4-3. This time the ranked matchup lived up to the billing in the second half only: a scoreless first 45 minutes, then three goals, two penalties and a saved penalty rebound inside 15 minutes. Clemson also came in off a 3-0 win over No. 8 Louisville and a 2-2 draw at Virginia Tech in its last two ACC outings, form that kept the Tigers near the top of the conference table into the postseason.

What happens next

Clemson hosts the first round of the ACC Tournament on Wednesday, November 4 at Historic Riggs Field. Its opponent and match time were to be announced after the rest of Friday night's regular season matches finished. Wake Forest also moves into the ACC Tournament at 11-4-2.