It’s officially summer and Tormenta FC is officially one of the hottest Premier Development League teams in the nation.
Tormenta spent most of Wednesday – and the early parts of Thursday – travelling to Myrtle Beach for a match that only lasted 12 minutes and will need to be replayed at a later date.
That meant that Tormenta could finally take possession of first place in the Deep South Division for the first time in front of its home crowd on Saturday against the Birmingham Hammers at Erk Russell Park.
Tormenta notched a goal in the opening minutes, led 2-0 at the half, and met a second half challenge with two more strikes to officially move into first in the Deep South and maintain its claim as one of only five unbeaten teams in the entire PDL.
“The biggest thing we preach is to outreach and outwork your man,” Tormenta assistant coach Jorge Gonzalez said. “I think we did that tonight, and that it showed.”
On a soggy field that could have easily served as an excuse for any team to take it easy and play conservitavely, Tormenta went straight to work.
An early free kick left the ball skidding about in front of the net and Jordan Walshaw was there to clean up the mess and give Tormenta the early lead.
In the 25th minute, Tormenta struck again when Toni Soler let loose from 30 yards, deflecting off of a defender and into the net for a 2-0 Tormenta advantage.
In the second half, a troubling trend reemerged.
Tormenta hasn’t let many sides back into games, but also hasn’t put up extravagant win totals. Tormenta laid back a bit early in the second half and allowed a few dangerous possessions.
One solid run from Birmingham resulted in an own goal off of Tormenta defender Josh Phelps that put the match at 2-1 in the 63rd minute.
But Tormenta took over from there.
Less than three minutes after the Birmingham strike, Jad Arslen worked into the box and set up Nil Vinyals for a near point-blank strike and a 3-1 lead. Mikie Rowe continued to pour gas on the fire with a well-struck goal in the 86th minute to put away the Hammers.
With the win, Tormenta recorded its 7th straight victory in PDL play.
The ultimate goal for Tormenta remains to earn a spot into the PDL playoffs.
The easiest spot into that division is via a divison championship, and Tormenta is meeting that goal, along with many others.
Tormenta still has the ‘unbeaten’ tag to hang its hat upon, and has started to ramp up offensive production to match the level of a defence that has earned goalkeeper Pablo Jaro All-PDL honors in multiple weeks already this season.
Tormenta will look for yet another win Wednesday as the club heads easts to take on SC United Bantams, on the 27th, in Savannah at Calvary Day.
