Charlotte Independence Backfills Goalkeeping Needs with Signing of Drew Romig

The 26 year old joins from league rivals Tormenta FC

Image credit South Georgia Tormenta FC

Charlotte Independence announced the signing of free agent goalkeeper Drew Romig. The 26 year old appeared in roughly half of South Georgia Tormenta’s league competitions last season, splitting the appearances with Ford Parker.

Neither Parker nor Romig were retained by Tormenta, with Parker announcing his retirement soon after. Tormenta then announced former Charlotte star keeper Austin Pack as its first off-season signing.

In a strange turn of events, Romig heads to Charlotte where he will compete for the top spot alongside 25 year old second-year pro Matt Levy. Romig immediately jumps to the top of the chart based on experience, but Levy showed promise in his two appearances with Charlotte. One was a clean sheet against Richmond to conclude the 2024 regular season, and the other was a split clean sheet in which he stepped in for an injured Austin Pack earlier in the season.

Romig did not see any clean sheets in 2024, on a Tormenta squad that struggled at times, finishing in 10th place and missing the playoffs. Tormenta also flamed out in the group stage of the Jägermeister Cup, finishing last in the group with no wins.

A native of the Richmond, VA area, Romig is a product of Richmond Kickers’ academy. With the Kickers, he made a pair of starts in 2015 when the club was still in what is now USL Championship. He then played NCAA soccer for the University of North Carolina and Belmont University before turning professional with Memphis 901 in 2022.

With Memphis, he saw the most action in the 2023 season, alongside Aren Seeger (now with Texoma FC) and former DC United keeper Bill Hamid. When Hamid departed the squad midway through the season, Romig took over until the final two matches when he was replaced by Richard Sanchez.

Unless a third signing is in the works, it seems Head Coach Mike Jeffries will have the two keepers compete for the role, or operate in tandem. Unless one emerges as a clear star, it will be a marked change from the Pack era, in which he played nearly every minute.

Charlotte will host Richmond to start the 2025 season on Saturday, March 15th.