Tormenta drops heartbreaker

Following a pair of 1-1 draws at home to begin its season, South Georgia Tormenta FC led twice and erased a deficit once, only to drop a tough 4-3 decision at Nashville SC Saturday night.
    Tormenta (0-1-2) pressured early and forced Nashville (3-0-0) to concede an own goal in the seventh minute of action.
    Nashville answered with a penalty kick by Blake Wilson in the 21st minute following a touchy call in the Tormenta box.
    South Georgia pressed ahead on a penalty of its own in the 44th minute when Reed Norton — whose dangerous cross had resulted in the own goal earlier in the game — regained the lead for his side.
    “We were right where we wanted to be,” Tormenta coach John Miglarese said. “Nashville is a very good team, so to be up 2-1 at halftime was exactly what we wanted. It just didn’t quite last for us.”
    Nashville turned up the pressure in the second half, consistently threatening. They finally broke through in the 52nd minute when a set piece found the head of Tanner Dietrich and a deflection by Tormenta defender Trenton Whitely didn’t get enough to keep the ball from bouncing into the net.
    Nashville pushed ahead just minutes later when a physical tackle at midfield resulted in no whistle and a turnover by Tormenta. Nashville raced downfield against a scrambling defense and Martim Glavao tiptoed through a pair of Tormenta players before beating keeper Keegan Meyer to give Nashville a 3-2 lead.
    Tormenta got to play the part of comeback kids late in the game when a quick counter attack found the foot of Max Hasenstab for his first goal of the season at the 79-minute mark.
    “I was really proud of the effort our guys put forth tonight,” Miglarese said. “We endured a lot. There was a weather delay, a long road trip, a very good opponent and some tough calls. Honestly, I thought we deserved a better result.”
    Unfortunately for Miglarese and Tormenta, the afformentioned tough calls reared their head a couple more times.
    Following Hasenstab’s goal, forward Kieran Roberts attempted to retrieve the ball from the net and collided with the Nashville goalkeeper. Despite minimal confrontation, Roberts was shown a red card and ejected from the game.
    Down to 10 players, Tormenta would have been content to get out of town with a draw and another point to add to its total in the standings. Tentative back-and-forth play from both sides seemed to be leading towards that result until a seemingly innocent free kick in the 86th minute.
    Nashvill booted the ball into the Tormenta box from nearly 50 yards out and the ball was headed out of danger with no major pushing or shoving evident. But the official rushed in, calling Tormenta defender Leland Archer for a hold and awarding Nashville its second penalty kick of the night.
    The home side was happy to have a chance to steal away a late win and Fletcher Ekern did just that, crushing a low shot to the left of Meyer to retake the lead.
    Four more minutes of regulation time and four more of stoppage time gave Tormenta a chance to answer, but down a man, no threat could be built.
    “That’s a tough one to take,” Miglarese said. “I never got an explanation about the foul that led to the final penalty, so I still don’t know what happened. 
    “But we have to put that behind us and start looking at our next game.”