Jim Robbins was all smiles coming off the field Thursday night.
“Scoring goals is fun,” the South Georgia Tormenta USLW coach said following their 3-1 comeback win over the South Carolina United FC Bantams that kept the team’s faint playoff hopes alive. Hopefully, he said, the win gives the team some confidence heading into the final three games of the regular season.
Bantam’s Charlotte McClure opened the scoring in the 28th minute with a powerful strike from 20 yards out that eluded Tormenta goalkeeper Cora Brendle. It was one of only a few opportunities that South Carolina had in the first half.
Even though they had multiple chances in the opening 45 minutes, Tormenta was unable to find the back of the net.
South Georgia’s Elis Nemtsov said it’s the nature of the game to sometimes dominate a half and still find yourself trailing.
“Soccer is just like that. You can be controlling the whole half and then they got one chance and they took it,” she said. “But it’s the mental part. How strongly do you want it? How much does the whole team want it?”
At halftime Robbins didn’t make many adjustments.
“We talked about it at halftime. Just go. Go take the game to them. Go get the win. Put your head down and attack,” was his message, he said.
Tormenta FC (3-2-3, 12 points) responded 10 minutes in to the second half when Nemtsov was able to find some space at the top of the 18 and fired a shot that the Bantams’ goalkeeper was unable to handle. One the rebound, Tormenta’s Kiana Jacobson was able to finish it with her left foot to equalize.
“I was just thinking ‘Someone shoot. Someone shoot. I am crashing the goalkeeper no matter what happens,’” Jacobson said. “Elis is freaking amazing and took the shot and I just crashed. You don’t know whether it’s going to go in or whether it’s going to bounce but you just follow and she bobbled it and I was like ‘It’s mine,’ and I took it.”
Tormenta continued to pressure the Bantams’ defense and in the 73rd minute earned a corner kick. Peyton Chick’s cross found the head of Abby Gemza who headed it towards net, only to have it hit the hand of a South Carolina United FC defender that resulted in a penalty kick.
Nemtsov, who plays her college soccer with Georgia Southern, stepped up and hammered home the penalty kick into the upper right corner to give Tormenta a 2-1 lead.
“I told myself as soon as I stepped to the penalty spot to just pick a side and stick with it and whatever happens, just keep going to that side,” Nemtsov said.
Even with the lead, Tormenta pressed forward as they were able to move the ball and continue to create chances.
In the 89th minute, Elise Holcey’s cross found Tess Werts in the box. She was able to draw a foul, resulting in another penalty kick for Tormenta.
Sarah Hagg’s penalty shot was saved, but Taylor Golden was able to get to the rebound on the left side of the six-yard box and fire a pass across the mouth of the goal. It ended up hitting a Bantam’s defender and rebounding in for an own goal, giving South Georgia the 3-1 cushion and ultimately the final goal of the match.
“The biggest thing we can take away is confidence and knowing that we can play and score and beat people,” Robbins said. “Like we’ve been saying all summer, we’ve been playing great and we find a way to tie games or find a way to lose games here and there, but I’m hoping the biggest takeaway for them is we can score, we can win games and we can play attractive soccer.”
Jacobson said the offensive outburst was the result of the efforts the team has been putting in during training.
“We’ve been putting in a lot of work to just get that final piece on the end to connect and it’s really nice to see it come to fruition,” she said.
Nemtsov said the team was able to have fun on the field and have played together enough this summer that they all trust each other.
“It’s harder when you’re not winning at the beginning. That trust usually comes when you’re winning and then you start trusting your teammates because that means you’re doing something right,” Nemtsov said. “Today, it all started clicking.”
Robbins praised the play of his defense and goalkeepers for their play and said it was a “team win.”
“We don’t necessarily have one player who is going to score a lot of goals, but to see a couple different people score and help us to get a result, I think that’s what this team is all about,” Robbins said.
The win keeps Tormenta’s playoff hopes alive. To have a chance, they still need to win their final three games and hope that Chattanooga doesn’t earn three points over their final games of the season.
“We like to set our own personal goals and one of them was ‘Let’s just win the next four games’ and leave behind what’s happened and almost start anew,” Jacobson said. “Let’s just win the next ones and to do what was awesome. It’s what we needed.”
Tormenta returns to action on Thursday when they travel to face North Alabama FC.
