Brown Bear Turns Into A Tiger
Before the 2014 season got underway, Clemson head coach Mike Noonan felt his Tigers could be very good this year.
In his fourth season, he has had time to recruit “his players.” Nine starters were returning from last year’s squad, including Ara Amirkhanian, who had five goals as a sophomore.
[show_disconnected][show_to accesslevel=’Subscriber’] Six games into the season the Tigers are unbeaten at 6-0 and ranked #4 nationally.
The Tigers opened their season with a 2-0 shutout of Mercer. A Clemson newcomer, Thomas McNamara scored one goal and assisted on the other. Actually, McNamara was one of Noonan’s recruits, four years ago.
A new player for the program, but not new to Noonan, who coached McNamara as a freshman at Brown University.
When Noonan left to take the Clemson job, McNamara stayed at Brown. Made All-Ivy League twice.
Technically, McNamara played four seasons for Brown, but one of those he only played four games after suffering a season-ending back injury. When he graduated last spring, he called his former coach, and with a medical waiver from the NCAA in hand, he enrolled as a graduate student and became a Clemson Tiger.
He made an immediate impact and found the atmosphere even more than he had expected.
“This was just awesome,” McNamara said after his debut in the season opener. “The atmosphere here, all the people on First Friday, I’ve never experienced something like this before.”
McNamara looked right at home in the Tigers’ midfield, going box to box, making plays and playing like he had been part of the Clemson system for far more than one game.
“Tommy can play any place in the front six,” said Noonan after the opener. “He can play as a false
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