Tormenta Shuts Down Madison
In a much needed trip home, Tormenta finds the win column.
In the first match back home since August 2nd, Tormenta FC made quick work of Forward Madison FC, seeing goals from Niall Reid-Stephen, Handwalla Bwana and Makel Rasheed; all while Austin Pack would stop all shots he saw, including an early penalty shot. Tormenta’s win was their 6th of the season and 2nd under interim manager Mark McKeever, who now has 7 points in 4 games in the role.
The win moved Tormenta from 13th in the league to 11th only 2 points out of 8th place with 8 game left in the season, including 2 match ups with Greenville and 1 with Texoma, both of which sit ahead of them in the standings. So, Tormenta’s recent form will be tested to see if they can make the run into the playoffs.
There was a lot of action early in this one as Madison would receive a penalty shot just 13 minutes in the game, when Connor Doyle would be on the end of a questionable hand ball. After a couple minutes of pleading the case, Madison would take their penalty shot as Devin Boyce’s shot, but it would be stopped by Austin diving to his left. The crowd behind Austin would let him know their appreciation of the save with a loud roar.
After some testy moments by both teams that included one-sided yellows to Tormenta, Niall Reid Stephen would sneak past the Madison back line, as they would head the ball towards their own goal and tap one past Schipmann to make it 1-0 Tormenta in the 34th minute. The goal would be his 6th of the season, but he was not done yet. Just minutes later the Barbados striker would again find the back of the net. This time he would use his speed and fancy footwork to slide one past Schipmann to secure a brace and double the Tormenta lead. The play would begin off a clearance up to Sebastian Vivas who would head it back and Niall would do the rest. A stutter step would fool the goalie just enough to open a section of the net for the goal.
The half would end after 4 minutes of stoppage time where Austin would make a routine save on a shot just outside the 18 yard box. After another testy challenge that would see Vivas knocked hard to the ground the half would end.
In the second half, it would start with the teams trading yellow cards as Boyce would receive one in the 52nd minute before Doyle would receive one despite the fans disagreeing largely with the call. Niall would almost get a hat trick in the 67th minute when he raced in on right side to receive a ball from Cabral that would go just over the cross bar. That would be the end of Niall’s chances as he would come off the pitch just a couple minutes later, to his own protest as he was having himself a night.
However, that didn’t mean the scoring for Tormenta was over, as Niall’s replacement Bwana find the back of the net in the 83rd minute. This drive was one of those that you want to see more often from Tormenta as it started deep in their half and they would tic tac the ball up the field until Bazini would break out across mid pitch and just outside the 18 yard box would find Bwana. He would put it passed Schipmann for his second of the year. Sticking to the theme of the night Tormenta would once again find the back of the net just 3 minutes later off a corner kick this time, as Nyandjo would send the ball into the box and Rasheed would be waiting to head it in for his 2nd of the season.
The 4-0 win would be the biggest win since May of 2024 when they won 4-0 against Chattanooga. Tormenta will look to continue to make ground on the playoffs on September 6th when they take on 2nd place One Knoxville. So far this year Tormenta is 0-2 against One Knoxville, with the most recent game being a 2-1 loss at home on July 12th.
Until next time, Vamos Tormenta!