Tormenta unable to douse Fuego

Photo Credit: Torment FC
Tormenta fell to Fuego 3-2 Saturday night in Fresno.

I tried. I really did try to stay up for Tormenta's matchup Saturday night/Sunday morning with Central Valley. The problem is I'm not as young as I once was, and three hours at the water park with a five year old and then mowing the yard were not conducive to me staying awake well past my bedtime to try to watch the game. (Five year olds, notoriously, don't sleep in.)

But let's back up, shall we. We're getting way ahead of ourselves. Tormenta fell to Fuego 3-2 after going into halftime with a 2-1 lead as South Georgia fell for the third time in their last four League One games. 

Even being up 2-1, Feugo was peppering shots all through the first half with their attacking style keeping goalkeeper Drew Romig on his toes. (I never played goalkeeper, but it's my understanding that good goalkeeper form is to be on your toes ready to for anything.) 

Despite the pressure, it was Tormenta who got out early with Pedro Fonseca continuing his fine form or late, scoring his fifth goal of the season in the sixth minute as he took advantage of a miscue from the Fuego defense to put South Georgia ahead 1-0. If the announcer last week was correct, this was just the fourth time this season Tormenta has scored first.

Fuego would have a good stretch through the first half and finally broke through in the 37th minute when Javier Mariona's shot from 20 yards out on the right deflected off Tormenta's Preston Kilwien and into the net to tie the score at one. 

Just before halftime, Kilwien would play a "hopeful ball" from midfield into the Fuego penalty area where Sebastian Vivas would tuck it into the net for his seventh of the year to put Tormenta back ahead 2-1. 

It would stay that way until shortly after halftime, but at this point I was, in the words of Roxette, fading like a flower. I did manage to stay up to  see Fuego tie it just minutes into the second half when Atcha Issa Yaya scored his first professional goal off a free kick where he was able to get open for a header past Romig to tie the score. 

In the 73rd minute, Dembor Benson found himself free at the back post to finish a low cross that made it through the box to put Fuego ahead 3-2 where it would remain, giving Fuego just their second regular season win on the year, but also their second win over Tormenta on the season, having won 2-1 on the opening weekend of the season back in March.

Some quick stat-box scouting shows a fairly even affair, with Feugo getting off 19 shots (six on target) while Tormenta had 16 shots (7 on target) for the night. Tormenta ended up with 11 shots inside the box to Fuego's nine, but the breaks didn't go South Georgia's way Saturday.

The loss drops Tormenta to 4-7-3 (15 points) on the season and they currently sit tied for the final playoff spot. However, with 14 games played, Tormenta has had the most matches on the year so far so every team below them still has extra games to try to make up points. 

After having just one home game in both June and July, Tormenta will return to the friendly confines of Tormenta Stadium Saturday where three of their next four games will be. Tormenta will face off against League One newcomer Spokane Velocity for the first time. The Velocity are currently 4-4-2 in their first season. We'll look more into that one on Friday.