BLACKSBURG - The Virginia Tech men's soccer team hits the road for the fifth time this season as they head south to take on No. 5 Clemson at 5 p.m. at Riggs Field on Friday.
The Hokies will look to remain unbeaten on the road this season and will be playing in a nationally televised contest on ESPN3.
Tech will try to get a result from a third ranked opponent on the road this season. The Hokies are unbeaten away from home with a 3-0-1 record and have gotten results from beating then-No. 10 Xaiver and drawing with then-No. 19 Louisville.
Virginia Tech split its pair of games last week as they beat nonconference foe Delaware and lost to Boston College. The Hokies beat the Blue Hens 4-1 on Tuesday night thanks to a pair of goals from Alessandro Mion. On Firday night, Tech outshot Boston College for the game but couldn’t capitalize on their chances as they fell 4-1.
The Hokies as a team have been good offensively, ranking seventh in the country in shots on goal per game with 7.38 and are T-23 in scoring offense. Merlin Baus is currently T-18 in the country in points per game at 1.71. Ricardo John leads the Hokies in chances as his 3.5 shots per game put him T-23 in the nation.
The ACC currently has all 12 teams ranked in the top 50 in the first NCAA RPI Rankings. The ACC has a hold on the top four spots and the Hokies come in at No. 46.
Opponent History...
The two programs will be meeting for the 13th time in history on Friday night. The last time the squads met was on Sept. 27, 2013 in Blacksburg. Tech drew 0-0 in 2OT with No. 16 Clemson. The two squads first met in 2003 and have only played as ACC foes. Clemson holds a narrow edge with a 5-4-3 record vs. the Hokies.
About No. 5 Clemson...
Clemson is coming off a 4-0 nonconference victory over Gardner-Webb on Tuesday night. The Tigers are unbeaten in their last five games (4-0-1) with their last only loss of the season coming on Sept. 12 at No. 7 Notre Dame.
Clemson has played its last two contests away from home in North Carolina, beating Gardner-Webb but also tying No. 6 Wake Forest 1-1 (2OT) on Sept. 26. Clemson is led by T.J. Casner who has scored six goals for a team-high 12 points. The Tigers also have Oliver Shannon who has four goals and two assists. Three other players have scored at least two goals so far this season.
The Tigers as a team are one of the top offenses in the country as they are second in total goals on the year with 24. They rank third in shots on goal per game and fourth in total shots per game. They average 2.4 goals a game which is seventh in the nation.
Clemson is also talented on the defensive end as they had two All-ACC Second Team selections on defense in 2014 in Paul Clowes and Kyle Fisher.
For updates on Virginia Tech men's soccer, follow the Hokies on Twitter Follow @VT_MSoccer