South Georgia Tormenta scored early and scored late and in between did just enough to come away with a 2-1 win over Portland Hearts of Pine Saturday night. 

Tormenta was leading 1-0 in the 79th minute when Anatolie Prepelita was issued his second yellow card of the night as he clipped Azaad Liadi just outside the penalty box to prevent a scoring chance. On the ensuing free kick, Tormenta goalkeeper Austin Pack made a diving save, but Patrick Langolis was there for the rebound, tying the score at one.

However, Tormenta (2-2-1, 7 points) responded quickly when Yaniv Bazini found Niall Reid-Stephen on a run open in the middle of the field. Reid-Stephen was able to outrace the defense and slide his shot by Portland goalkeeper Kashope for the game winner as South Georgia got a much needed early season win.

“They went down to 10 men and they fought and that’s a credit to them,” said Jordan Bell, who was serving as interim Head Coach for Tormenta as Ian Cameron was unavailable for the match. 

Tormenta jumped out to an early lead in the sixth minute when Bazini was able to get behind the defense on the left side. His cross found an open Aaron Walker open in the box about eight yards out. Rather than shoot, he laid off a perfect pass to Mason Tunbridge who spun and got a shot off that found the back of the net to put Tormenta ahead 1-0.

“If (Walker) had shot it, I wouldn’t have been mad,” Tunbridge said. “I called for the ball and he’s got such experience and quality to know where I was and I’ve got a feeling for the goal at the moment. I feel confident in those scenarios and I was happy to get another one.”

Tunbridge’s goal is his fourth on the season. 

“It’s my role to be ready for anything,” Tunbridge said. “Not to just admire the great ball from Bazini and the quality from Walker had, but to be ready for the pass. I’m thankful to him for giving it to me.” 

In the 25th minute, Tormenta’s Jackson Kasanzu was whistled for a foul inside the box that also resulted in an injury to him. 

Former Georgia Southern and Tormenta player Liadi stepped up to take the penalty, but his shot was saved by Pack as he dove to his right, but was able to lift his leg and block the shot down the middle.

“I felt like I was due after the last game and having one go underneath me and then reading one right,” Pack said. “I was just trying to read him and do the best I could and luckily I was able to come up with the save.”

“Austin came up with the PK save so credit to him for that,” Bell said. “His job is to keep the ball out of the net and in that moment he did his job,” 

Minutes later the post would be kind to Tormenta as Pack mishandled the ball and had it stolen by Liadi on the right of the six-yard box. Liadi’s shot riccocheted off the post to Mchael Reilly, but Pack was able to save the follow up shot to keep Portland (0-1-2, 2 points) off the board and preserve the Tormenta lead. 

“We’re a team that’s trying to play from the back and that’s something we pride ourselves on,” Pack said. “And sometimes with the high press and the surface, you get yourself stuck in those situations and luckily we were able to play our way through it. I can see in that moment maybe it was a little too risky in the back with the surface, but that’s something we try to do and try to work on is playing through the back.”

Portland nearly equalized just before halftime when Liadi was able to dribble past Prepolita on the right side of the box, but his shot went just wide.

The match was a physical one, with the teams combining for 27 fouls and nine yellow cards on the night. While possession was roughly even with Tormenta holding the ball for 51 percent of the night, it was Portland who were able to get more shots off. Hearts of Pine had 13 shots to Tormenta’s eight, and doubled up Tormenta in shots on target, 6-3.

Prepolita will miss Tormenta’s next League One match on Sunday against Charlotte.

“We’ve got so many good guys that can step in and cover while he’s out in the next game,” Tunbridge said. “Internally, I don’t think it’s a problem because we’ve got faith in everyone to do their jobs.” 

“We speak about your personal battles. You have to win your duels and I think, for the most part, the boys did that,” Bell said. “I think that was the key that every time there was a physical challenge, the boys were right up for it and then we didn’t get broken in terms of when there were adverse moments,  they stuck together.”

Tormenta returns to action Tuesday when they travel to face Charleston in the third round of the US Open Cup. The two teams have met twice before in the tournament, with Tormenta winning in 2022 and Charleston knocking Tormenta out of the 2024 tournament with a last minute goal in extra time. 

“They are one of the elite clubs in the (USL) Championship,” Bell said. For us as an organization, we’d like to reach them in terms of our habits and expectations. And then, from a player standpoint, they’ve got some talented boys. And for us as a League One club, we want to go up against the best Championship teams. 

Pack said the Open Cup is a a tournament he really enjoys.

“I love the Open Cup,” he said. “It’s something that’s super important to the fans. It’s super important for US soccer so we’re excited. We know Charleston well. We played them in preseason so it’ll be a good test for us.”

Tormenta and Charleston will kick off at 7:30 p.m. in Charleston. The game can be streamed on Paramount+.