The first game of the inaugural Jagermeister Cup for South Georgia Tormenta FC Saturday night saw a little bit of everything as Charlotte scored early, Tormenta rallied for a late equalizer and then the game was decided on a penalty shootout as part of the new tournament in USL League One for 2024.

Charlotte goalkeeper Austin Pack’s diving save of Josh Ramos’ penalty in the final round was the difference as the Independence picked up two points for the newly created tournament as they prevailed 5-4. 

The Jagermeister Cup is a new in-season competition introduced this year when USL League One switched to a balanced schedule for its regular season. The 12 teams in the league play each other team in a home and away match for a 22 game regular season whereas last year each team played 33 regular season games. The new tournament adds back some of those lost games.

The teams were placed in three groups of four with the winner of each group advancing to the semifinals. The fourth semifinalist will be the remaining team that scored the most goals in the group stages. Teams are awarded three points for a win and one point for a tie. However, as was the case Saturday night, tie games immediately go to a shootout with the winner earning an additional point in the Cup standings. 

Charlotte jumped out to an early lead in the fourth minute when Juan Carlos Obregon Jr.’s header at the near post from a Luis Alvarez corner kick was flicked to the back post and by the Tormenta defense to give Charlotte the 1-0 lead. 

South Georgia would have chances in the first half to tie the game, but were unable to get through an athletic Charlotte defense to score. In the 37th minute, Jackson Koury’s cross slipped through the hands of Pack, but Tormenta didn’t have anyone in position to capitalize on the mistake and the ball was cleared away.

Tormenta would come out in the second half and created chances early, but were able to put together a combination to break through the Charlotte back line. Early in the second half, defender Nick Akoto went down with an apparent injury and roughly five minutes later, center back Jake Dengler also went down. Both had to be substituted off and the extent of their injuries wasn’t immediately known.

South Georgia continued pressing throughout the match, with midfielder Mason Tunbridge creating opportunities as he drove forward multiple times late in the second half. 

Three minutes into stoppage time, Tunbrige’s corner kick would find Sebastian Vivas at the back post and his header beat the Charlotte defense at the post to equalize and send the game to penalty kicks where Charlotte would convert all five of their attempts and Pack was able to make a save when need to give Charlotte the win.

“Americans don’t like draws,” said Tormenta Manager Ian Cameron after the game. “There’s no such thing in American sports as a draw. Unfortunately we have to think about the outcome in the penalties, but as a spectacle, that’s cool,” he said of the format.

“Here’s what’s tough about it. I think we deserved to get a result out of the game. I thought we had control of the game. They’re obviously dangerous with their counter-attacks, which we knew,” Cameron said. “Bu you’re frustrated at your group if you don’t get the equalizer and the result becomes a bigger thing. I think, had they lost the game, the performance was still ok but it’s frustrating. But I think the boys got the equalizer they deserved.”

“Did we do enough to win the game? No. We didn’t create enough clear chances. But I don’t think we deserved to lose the game,” Cameron said.

Tormenta midfielder and captain Conor Doyle said the format of the tournament was certainly something new and different.

“You kind of forget about it as the game goes on and we scored late and it kind of clicks and you’re like ‘oh, yeah. We have to stay on the field and go to (penalties) now,’” he said. “But it’s definitely better than playing an extra 30 minutes. It was interesting. I think it’s fun,” he said.

Doyle and Cameron both said the team played well but are still lacking the finishing in the final third.

“I didn’t think we deserved to lose 3-0 last Sunday (to Greenville) and we didn’t deserve to lose this game,” Doyle said. “I think getting the equalizer was deserved. I thought we played well up to a point and then it’s just that final piece that we’re missing. Other than that we were decent. I’m happy with how we played. 

Tormenta outshot Charlotte 16-6 on the night and were able to keep possession for 56 percent of the match.

Cameron was disappointed that his team lost last week to Greenville and tied, in regulation, with Charlotte, both at home.

“Two games at home, we should be winning one of those games,” he said. “So that’s something we need to analyze ourselves. But credit to the boys for the late equalizer.

“It’s tough coming back from behind but the boys showed resilience,” said midfielder Mason Tunbridge. “We’ve done this a few times now where we’ve got a goal late on.”

He credited the comeback to the mentality instilled in the team.

“If we’re down, we have a culture that says make sure the game doesn’t get away from us and we listened to that and followed that and made sure we just do the job,” he said. 

Tunbridge also enjoyed the format of the tournament.

“None of the fans have ever seen something like this and none of the players have ever played in something  like this,” he said. “It’s a great experience. It’s a great idea and I think it’s going to be a lot of fun.”

Tormenta’s group includes Greenville, Charlotte and Richmond and Cup games do not count towards the regular season standings or affect playoff seeding at the close of the regular season. In addition to the teams in their group, each team will face two teams from outside their group for a total of eight games. Tormenta’s other two opponents are Central Valley and Knoxville.

While the competition only includes USL League One teams this season, there is hope that other leagues, including the USL Championship, will join the tournament in future years. The final group stage game will take place on September 1 with the knockout rounds beginning after that. 

Cameron was excited for the crowd, especially the amount of children who were able to see an exciting game ending in a penalty kick shootout.

“For these kids, it’s a great spectacle. They don’t care if we win. They don’t care about the tactics. They want excitement. They want energy. It was really neat to see the amount of young people in the crowd and hopefully we got some new soccer fans tonight.” 

Tormenta returns to action on Saturday when they travel to face Union Omaha. Their next Jagermeister Cup game will be on May 11 when they travel to face Greenville.