Hendrik Hilpert picked the ball out of the back of the net and sprinted toward midfield. His Syracuse teammates were stunned, huddling in a group with their hands to their faces, but he was physically pushing them up field to restart the ball.

Clemson had just scored the only goal of the game on an undefended breakaway with 51 seconds left. Hilpert was trying to refocus the team.

“You don’t need to say something,” Hilpert said. “You just need to embody a certain kind of last optimism because we had some seconds left and maybe we would have this one last chance.”

In the game’s most chaotic moments, Hilpert was composed. He repeatedly punched shots over the crossbar only to reset and do it again seconds later. His three saves in the first half stifled Clemson’s attack and kept the Orange in the game.

After Tuesday’s win over Bowling Green, Hilpert said he would’ve liked to contribute more and on Saturday he did, turning in one of his best performances of the year and stopping every shot on goal from one of the top scoring team in the country until the final minute. Despite his efforts, No. 16 Syracuse (9-4-1, 2-3-1 Atlantic Coast) fell to No. 4 Clemson (11-1-2, 4-1-1), 1-0, at SU Soccer Stadium on a cold Saturday night.

“He was good, wasn’t he?” head coach Ian McIntyre said. “When called upon, he was outstanding.”

Early in the first half, Tigers forward Austen Burnikel fired a shot from the right side of the penalty box that hit off jumping defender Louis Cross. Hilpert sprawled to his left and reached out his arm to deflect the ball away.

He stood up, tugged at his left sleeve once, then his shorts twice, collecting himself for a second before sprinting to the back right post a punching a shot from about 30 yards away off the crossbar.

Hilpert got up again, played the ball and picked it up as a Clemson player approached — moving his head slightly left and right in a rejecting manner.

“Hendrik is class,” forward Ben Polk said. “He’s a good shot-stopper. He’s good one-on-one. He’s aggressive.”

McIntyre thought the conference’s top two goalies were on the field. Clemson’s Andrew Tarbell — with the third most saves in the ACC — and Hilpert — SU’s budding freshman goalkeeper with 14 saves in his first five games.

On Clemson’s only corner attempt of the first half, Hilpert watched the ball long enough only to see it initially go in the air. His eyes immediately darted to two Clemson players near the back post. He backed up to the goal line and poked a headed shot over the cross bar with his right hand.

Three quality Clemson chances — one of them “brilliant” by McIntyre’s assessment — were ousted by Hilpert’s outstretched arms. Other through balls into the box were swallowed up by his sliding body.

“Saves are just single situations,” Hilpert said. “The game can consist of 10 single situations for a goalkeeper, it can consist of 20 or it can consist of two.”

Hilpert didn’t record a save in the second half, but remained just as effective.

Late in the game, he charged at two forwards crashing into the box and stonewalled the one who took a shot. The play was called back for offsides, but Hilpert still didn’t let the dead-ball shot get through.

On his final shot to save though, there was little Hilpert could do.

Clemson forward Kyle Murphy stole the ball from SU midfielder Oyvind Alseth after a corner kick. There was no defense. Just Hilpert and Murphy.

Hilpert backpedalled. He shuffled his feet several times and dove. The ball, to no fault of Hilpert McIntyre said, rolled to the back of the net — tainting a perfect evening in goal.

“I tried to contribute a lot but it wasn’t enough,” Hilpert said. “They made one goal and we didn’t and that’s the game. That would be at least one more opportunity for me to contribute.”

Published on October 17, 2015 at 11:52 pm

Contact Jon: jrmettus@syr.edu | @jmettus