Tormenta’s offense continues to click on all cylinders as they were able to overcome an early goal from One Knox and rebound with two of their own to earn a big three points in the standings with a 2-1 win Saturday night.

Sebastian Vivas would score in the first half and Niall Reid-Stephen would score the game winner in the second as Tormenta claimed back-to-back victories in League One play for the first time this season. 

Knoxville jumped out early when a foul by Tormenta set One Knox up with a free kick on the left about 10 yards from the endline. Callum Johnson’s cross found the foot of Dani Fernandez who was able to flick it inside the near post just four minutes in to put Tormenta behind early.

“I think we started a little bit slow,” said midfielder Gabriel Cabral. “We talked before the game to start on the front foot. We started a little bit slow but once they scored a goal, I think we were the better side. They scored a goal, but after that, I think that we were the better side.”

Interim Manager Mark McKeever stressed coming out on the front foot and giving up an early goal wasn’t part of that plan.

“It’s probably the best time to concede a goal is the first five minutes, right? Because then you have 85 or 90 minutes to go and correct the mistakes,” he said. 

Despite giving up the early goal, McKeever wasn’t too worried as he has confidence in Tormenta’s ability to find the back of the net.“These lads are going to score goals in every game,” he said. “They’re good enough so I know that we’re going to score two or three. I know we’ve got big players in big moments so one-nothing down, I don’t care. Two-nothing down, I don’t care. Three-nothing down, I don’t care. We can score four.”“These guys, attacking wise, we can get goals from all over the field and they’re firing and confident and you see that in their performance when they’re in front of goal.”

Tormenta nearly responded just a few minutes later following a header from Sebastian Vivias, but Knoxville goalkeeper Sean Lewis was able to make a diving save to keep Tormenta off the scoreboard for the time being. 

After about 15 minutes, Tormenta started to take more control of the game and began to create more chances. 

In the 26th minute, Oscar Jiminez’s cross would find Vivas near the penalty spot and this time Lewis would be able to stop his header as Tormenta would tie it up 1-1.

Tormenta would keep the pressure on 10 minutes later when Niall Reid-Stephen got in behind the defense to be one-on-one with Lewis, but his shot would be saved and the game would remain tied.

Cabral would nearly give Tormenta the lead in the 40th minute with a free kick from 22 yards out, but his curling shot over the wall was saved by a diving Lewis to keep the game tied. 

The game would take a turn in the 42nd minute when Knoxville’s Abel Caputo would pick up his second yellow card in just four minutes, seeing him sent off and giving Tormenta a man advantage for the remainder of the match.

“The lads rose to the challenge,” McKeever said. They kept their cool. It was really, really intense and we knew it was going to be a battle. We kept 11 players in the park and that was a vital component.

“Against Chattanooga (when Tormenta had a player red carded), we lost our emotional intelligence a little bit. Tonight we kept it so I would say if there’s something that’s really pleasing, it would be the emotional intelligence in the heated moments,” he said.

Knoxville had an opportunity early in the second half to score despite being a man down as they got to the endline and were able to get a cross back to the six-yard box, but their shot went wide right.

Six minutes later, Tormenta would earn a free kick on the left just outside the box. The initial cross was blocked, but the ball fell to Reid-Stephen at the top of the box. His shot deflected off a Knoxville player and into the net to put Tormenta ahead. 

Tormenta would go on to create several more chances, including a Vivas shot that was saved again by Lewis and a Reid-Stephen attempt that ricocheted off the far post.

“I feel as though we should have won four or five (to one). We should have scored four goals tonight, I say that confidently,” McKeever said. “

Mason Tunbridge echoed McKeever’s sentiments following the match about the team’s confidence in scoring goals even after falling behind early.

“We’re on a roll with goals at the moment,” he said. “So I think not hitting the panic button when you concede a goal and trusting ourselves to know that if a team’s going to score one on us, we back ourselves to score two, three and so on. Thankfully we got a goal in each half and they went down a man.”

It was a physical contest with 11 yellow cards issued and Knoxville Manager Ian Fuller being issued a red card late in the game for arguing with the officials. The teams combined for 29 fouls on the night.

The back-to-back wins have propelled Tormenta to ninth in the standings, just one place outside of the playoff picture with seven games remaining. 

Tunbridge said consistency is the key for Tormenta to continue this good run of form as they push for a playoff spot.

“I think the thing that’s going to help with that is having the same habits in training. You don’t get too high from the highs and you don’t get too low from the lows,” he said. 

The match for McKeever was the first against his former team after he and Knoxville mutually agreed to part ways in August, 2024. McKeever had been the only coach in the team’s history up to that point.

“It doesn't mean nothing. My attachment is to these guys,” McKeever said. “It’s always good to see the lads that I have had  long, long, long term relationships with so it was exciting to get to see those guys tonight. I haven’t seen them in a long time and I’m still really close with a lot of the guys there that were part of my build. But my loyalty, my passion, my love now is in this locker room right here and I’ve embraced them and they’ve embraced me. Knoxville’s not really part of that so I don’t really want to talk about them too much.” 

After two consecutive home wins, Tormenta hits the road for matches at Greenville next week and then at AV Alta on September 20 before returning home on September 27 for a matchup with Richmond.