South Georgia Tormenta FC was able to weather a first half storm against Forward Madison Saturday night and go into halftime only down by a goal.
Some key second half adjustments saw Tormenta score three goals in a nine-minute stretch early in the second half to keep themselves in the playoff hunt with a 4-2 win over Madison.
“We’re in a tough spot in the table. It’s that time of year when you have to get wins,” said Tormenta’s Mukwelle Akale. “It doesn’t matter if you go down early or if you’re losing the first half, we’ve got to fight until the 90 to get that win.
Akale had a goal and an assist in the second half.
Trailing 2-1 at halftime, Tormenta (9-11-3, 30 points) got the second half scoring started early when Jackson Khoury was able to gather a long pass on the left sideline. He then cut it back to find Pedro Fonseca in the penalty box. Fonseca drew a foul, setting the stage for Kazaiah Sterling to take the penalty kick.
Sterling calmly approached and fired a shot to the right as the Madison goalkeeper dove left, leveling the match at 2-2.
“The penalty (kick) was just the same as usual,” Sterling said following the match. “It’s just like a feeling that I have now.”
Six minutes later in the 55th minute, Sterling would get his second of the night. He was able to get a steal in the Madison (10-7-6, 36 points) third of the field and touch it to Akale who passed it right back to Sterling who was able to touch it past the goalkeeper and just inside the far post to give Tormenta a 3-2 lead.
“I saw Kaz was going to poke the ball so I started running. The ball came out and I wanted to reward him for getting that ball so I just played it back to him and knowing Kazaiah Sterling, ‘if he’s one-on-one, is he going to score?’ yes, of course,” Akale said.
Sterling was quick to credit the coaching staff for designing the pressure that allowed him and Akale to combine on Tormenta’s third goal.
“We can stand in front of a whiteboard all we want and tell people where to be and how to be, but it’s up to the players,” said Tormenta Manager Ian Cameron. “The players have to go and make plays. I appreciate that from the Kaz, but those guys have to bring the tactics to life.”
The goal was Sterling’s ninth of the season which leads the team in goals.
Just three minutes later South Georgia would double their lead. Fonseca was able to corral a loose ball near midfield and spotted Akale down the right side. His pass hit Akale in stride and he took one touch before chipping it over the goalkeeper to give Tormenta a 4-2 lead.
“Pedro and I have a really good combination together. I knew he was going to see my run through behind (the defense) and he played it perfectly,” Akale said. “I saw the goalie come out and when the goalie comes out, sometimes you have that little chip over him and that’s what I did.”
Cameron was pleased with his team’s offensive performance. Tormenta has scored 26 goals from the beginning of July over the team’s nine games, good for 2.9 goals per game over that stretch.
“Another good offensive display. Lots of goals, lots of chance creation which is different from the start of the year,” he said. “We know we’re still a work in progress defensively and that was certainly put to the test today with very good attackers from Madison’s side but you just have to outscore your opponent and that’s what we’re going to do.”
The first half saw Tormenta fall behind early when Madison’s Christian Chaney was able to head in a deflected shot past South Georgia goalkeeper TJ Bush in the 12th minute.
Tormenta answered six minutes later. Khoury was able to get past his defender and turn the corner at the endline. His cross deflected off a Madison player and into the goal for what is, officially, an own goal but it evened the score at one.
Madison retook the lead in the 26th minute on some excellent passing that ended with Jayden Onen touching it by Bush for the 2-1 lead.
“I think that first half was a bit hectic. I think we did a lot of good things, but we had a lot of bad moments as well that we had to figure out as a team,” said central defender Preston Kilwein. “It didn’t look great when people are screaming at each other, but that’s how we have to work through things sometimes to get in to halftime.”
Cameron echoed Kilwien’s sentiments regarding the first half.
“Sometimes they just need to ride the storm until halftime so we can make some structural changes,” Cameron said. “Structural changes in half are difficult to communicate. I’d like to have seen them manage the game a bit better and stay a bit more composed until we got to halftime to make the changes, but we got there steady enough.”
“I think this is a big win for us mentally, physically and emotionally,” said Kilwein following the win. “We’ll come out Wednesday flying and again on Saturday and take it three points by three points.”
Tormenta returns to action on Wednesday for a game against Northern Colorado that had to be rescheduled from earlier in the season when persistent lightning in the area forced the game to be canceled at halftime. In that game, Tormenta was ahead 1-0 when the game was delayed, but the slate will be wiped clean and the game will be played from the start with the score 0-0.
“They’re a very good team, Northern Colorado, right at the top of the league,” Cameron said. “But we believe that we can beat everybody and we’ve just got to turn around and recover and go back with a bit of energy on Wednesday night to get the job done.”
News and Notes:
Tormenta has two players named to Team of the Week
Midfielder Pedro Fonseca and defender Davey Mason were both named to the USL1 team of the week for Week 22 of the season.
Fonseca scored a goal and added an assist in Tormenta’s 3-2 loss to Charlotte this past weekend while Mason had two assists in South Georgia’s 2-1 win over Central Valley in the teams’ midweek matchup.
Pre-game jerseys honor Carter Payne
Tormenta donned special pre-game jerseys to honor the late Carter Payne prior to Saturday’s matchup. Payne played for the Tormenta 2 team last season and was killed in a hit-and-run crash on July 9, 2022.
The jerseys, created in collaboration with the University of Michigan where Payne played his college soccer, were to be signed by the player or coach wearing them and then sold with proceeds benefiting the Carter Payne Foundation. The money raised will go towards offsetting one Tormenta Academy’s player’s team and uniform fees each year.
