We have a Goalie goal, I repeat a Goalie goal in Tormenta
Austin Pack's header saves the day
Tim Howard, Kevin Piedrahita, Nate Steinwascher, Brad Friedel, and other American goalies who’ve scored a goal in their careers are now joined by Austin Pack, as his header on Saturday night would secure a point for Tormenta against Greenville. In a game where Tormenta would score early and equalize way into stoppage not much more can be said except, what a finish!
In front of their home crowd for the first time in 4 matches, Tormenta squared up against local USL 1 derby partner Greenville Triumph, who will be the lone representative from the USL1 in the Jagermiester Cup knock-out rounds. The talk of the match though would be of two Tormenta players getting their first goals all while continuing to fight for a shot of the playoffs. In just his 8th match for Tormenta and in his professional career, Makel Rasheed would find himself on the receiving end of a Mason Tunbridge free kick and he would head the ball into the left side of the goal to make it 1-0 in the 9th minute of play. The assist from Mason is his 5th of the 2025 competition season and 3rd in league play, which follows his goal against Miami just a week ago.
Neither team would find much room during the rest of the half as the score would be 1-0 Tormenta after 45 minutes. The biggest things from the first half outside of the goal was Austin Pack stopping a Robles shot from point blank keeping the game tied 0-0 in the 5th minute. Tormenta controlled possession and moved the ball well during the first half, trying to create chances while pinching down on Greenvilles attackers. Greenville, though, would find the back of the net in the 53rd minute as a shot from Robles would catch the post and bounce right back to him where he would tap it in just out of the reach of Pack.
In the 72nd minute, Pack would receive a yellow card and have to face a penalty shot from a challenge the referee would consider too much as he would make contact with Mensah just inside the box. This challenge would lead to another Robles shot that would find the back of the net as he would take the penalty for Greenville and get one just past Pack, who would go the right way but just a tad too much. He would get the ball but was unable to take enough off of it to stop it from going in.
However, in stoppage time things would get interesting as Greenville would get called for wasting time in what was expected to be the last minute of stoppage time. This would lead to the dramatic finish in which Tormenta would be awarded a corner kick that Pack would come up to the attacking box as an extra attacker. The service from Cabral would go right to Pack, who would head it to the left side of the box out of reach of Greenville’s goalie. Pack would become the 2nd USL1 goalie to score a game and the first since Piedrahita did it in 2022.
The finish would get Tormenta a much needed point going into August in which they will play 6 games as they try to catch Greenville for that 8th place spot. They face FC Naples for the 2nd time this season as they travel to Naples, Florida on August 7th before going to Mount Vernon, NY to face Westchester SC on August 10th. Finding points in these two games this week will go a long way for Tormenta, who will face Richmond and Chattanooga before coming back home on August 30th. August is shaping up to be a very critical month for Tormenta as they look to launch theirselves into the playoff discussion; these next 4 matches could very well be the way to do so.
Until next time, Vamos Tormenta.
So the numbers were a lot lower than I would’ve expected for this game but I do think the potential of storms and rain kept many away. College kids do come back soon which will bring back one of their support groups, The Flight Crew. Cat 5 is another group that’s out there but I’m nor as familiar with them.
Does Tormenta have a Supporters' Section? How has attendance at the games been like recently? Hopefully college kids are filtering back into town and to these matches?