With over a week to rest since its last game, South Georgia Tormenta FC hoped to notch its first victory of the season Wednesday night, but that’s not how things panned out.
A slow start and a couple of defensive lapses early in the second half gave the SC United Bantams a handful of goals and sent Tormenta to a 4-2 defeat.
“We’re disappointed in the outcome, but I also think that the talent and the effort is there,” Tormenta coach John Miglarese said. “It would be one thing if we made mistakes and I thought the team was crumbling. But we fought back. We got back into the game and could have had a better result if not for a few lapses.”
For the fourth time in as many games to start the season, a goal found the net in the first 15 minutes of play. Wednesday wasn’t Tormenta’s night to take an early advantage though. After solid defense in the first few Bantam possessions, Joe Vyneri was able to find enough space to uncork an open shot, ripping it into the top of the net past Tormenta keeper Keegan Meyer to take a 1-0 lead in the eighth minute.
Jordan Walshaw doubled up on the Bantams’ lead in the 26th minute when he found enough space to uncork another open shot.
“We kind of got knocked back early on,” Miglarese said. “We thought we had a good game plan coming into the match. We started off well, but the first goal kind of stunned us and they put another one on top of that.”
As has been the case early in the season, Tormenta seemed to get the better of the halftime adjustments.
South Georgia controlled the pace of play in the opening minutes of the second half and Max Hasenstab blasted a shot into the back of the net to cut the deficit in half in the 50th minute.
Tormenta kept up the pressure and had a few chances immediately following the goal, but SC United turned the tables, converting off of a free kick in the 54th minute to press ahead 3-1.
Perhaps some panic or pressure set in for Tormenta as they again tried to rally. The Bantams denied another few scoring chances for South Georgia and a Tormenta turnover deep in its own zone led to another strike by Walshaw in the 64th minute to all but seal the game.
“We had good effort, but there were bad spots,” Miglarese said. “I wish we had played both halves like the second half on offense. As for defense, in both halves we gave one up and they immediately smelled blood and jumped on us again.”
In the 82nd minute, Charlie Dennis found Jamie Merriam for a second goal for Tormenta. South Georgia threatened a few more times and hit the crossbar with a shot, but the Bantams’ lead was safe throughout the final minutes of play.
Tormenta will have another eight days to train and think about how it can notch its first win of the season. Next week, South Georgia hosts division-leading Nashville SC Thursday and Saturday
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