Tormenta tames Lexington

Photo Credit: Tormenta FC
Tormenta earned its 50th all time regular season win
Saturday with a 2-1 win over Lexington.

Well that was better. At least the second half was, as Tormenta scored twice in the final 45 minutes to take the 2-1 win over Lexington and sweep the regular season series between the two teams and gave Tormenta its 50th regular season win all time in USL League One. 

Saturday's win was the first for Tormenta when trailing at halftime this season as Sebastian Vivas scored while Pedro  Fonseca scored and had an assist in the comeback victory. More importantly, it was their first win in regulation since May 18 when they knocked off Chattanooga 4-0.

Having said all that, it certainly didn't come easy for South Georgia. Lexington dominated time of possession, holding the ball for almost 60 percent of the game and outshot Tormenta 17-13 on the night. That possession, however, was a lot of Lexington passing the ball around the back as they poked and prodded the Tormenta defense, looking for openings to attack. While they certainly found some opportunities, you don't get 17 shots off by sheer luck, Lexington's lone goal wasn't so much a product of their offense breaking down South Georgia's defense as much as it was a breakdown of South Georgia's defense.

A minute into first half stoppage time, Tormenta's Callum Stretch, near midfield, attempted to play a ball back to Jake Dengler. He did not get much on the pass at all and Lexington's Ates Diouf intercepted the pass and had a clean breakaway to goal. Tormenta was able to track back, forcing Diouf to take a couple of touches to the middle, but he blasted a shot past goalkeeper Drew Romig as Lexington capitalized on the Tormenta miscue to take a 1-0 lead into halftime. 

Romig came up big earlier in the half, making some terrific saves, including a diving save in the first four minutes to knock away a Tate Robertson free kick. In the 12th minute Lexington's Nico Brown got a step on the Tormenta defense and sent a shot towards goal, but Romig was again able to parry it away and then a tremendous save in the 42nd minute when Brown found himself open at the back post. Romig made himself as big as possible and Brown's shot hit off Romig and then off the crossbar before falling harmlessly away. 

"I don't know how their keeper kept that one out by Nico Brown," said Lexington Manager Darren Powell following the game in his postgame interview that posted by Twitter account CrainKicksLex. 

Tormenta Manager Ian Cameron has stressed attention to detail and accountability the last few times we've spoken and I certainly don't know if Stretch's error late in the half is why he was substituted off to start the second half, but Stretch, along with Joshua Ramos and Austin Wehner were all pulled after 45 minutes as Nick Akoto, Jackson Khoury and Sebastian Vivas all entered for Tormenta. 

The changes would pay off midway through the half as in the 66th minute, Khoury, playing on the right wing, would find Alsadiq Hasan near the endline on the left just outside the box with a cross. Hasan would find Fonseca just outside the six-yard box. In a display of patience, Fonseca played it back to Vivas who struck in first time past Lexington goalkeeper Amal Knight to tie the score. 

Roughly 20 minutes later, with the score still knotted at one, Tormenta would find the game winner. After knocking the ball around the right side of the box, the ball would eventually come to Akoto and his cross to the middle would find the head of Fonseca, who directed it by Knight to put South Georgia ahead 2-1. 

In his celebration, Fonseca would take off his jersey, earning him a yellow card, one of 14 on the night, including two to Ajmeer Spengler, who picked up his second yellow three minutes in to stoppage time for reasons and such as. I would love to tell you what he did to get his second yellow card, but I really can't. There didn't appear to be anything on the broadcast to show what he did and the USL One Match Center simply says "second yellow yard to (Ajmeer) Spengler" with no explanation. I could speculate, but your guess is as good as mine at this point. 

Nevertheless, Tormenta would hold on and pick up three much needed points in the standings with the win. 

Tormenta was certainly able to capitalize on their opportunities as they outperformed their xG, at least according to footystats.org. Their metrics had Lexington with 1.80 expected goals, while Tormenta only had 1.38. 

The win lifts South Georgia to sixth in the regular season standings with 15 points, though Tormenta is the only team in the league to have played 13 games with everyone else having played 12 or fewer. 

The team returns to action on Saturday when they travel to Charlotte for a Jagermeister Cup match. With only three games remaining in the group stage of the Jagermeister Cup, Tormenta needs some help as they only have three points and sit in the bottom of the Eastern group. Charlotte, meanwhile, is tied with Richmond with 7 points and both trail Greenville who has nine. Richmond and Greenville also square off this weekend. For Tormenta fans, a win in regulation with the Kickers and Triumph tying and then a Richmond shootout win is the most beneficial outcome as Tormenta clings to hopes of making a run in the Jagermeister Cup. 

Both of those games kick off at 7 p.m. and can be seen on ESPN+. We'll talk more about them on Friday.