Statesboro, GA – The Greenville Triumph were defeated 3-1 by South Georgia Tormenta FC Saturday night in Statesboro, Georgia in the third match of a grueling five-match stretch for the club.Tormenta FC was able to capitalize on two free kicks and a penalty kick to bag their three goals, while Marios Lomis tallied his seventh goal of the season.
Greenville came out strong from the kickoff, putting Tormenta under pressure early that led to a Lomis shot on target within the first twenty seconds. Tormenta FC settled in, and Greenville did well throughout the first half to get numbers behind the ball as John Harkes’s side shifted from a 4-3-3 to a 4-5-1 on the defensive side of the ball. The formation changes allowed Greenville to collect the ball in dangerous parts of the pitch, which led to a few quality opportunities including a Don Smart missile just wide of the goal in the 13th minute.
Both sides had swings of momentum throughout the first half until Tormenta FC was able to capitalize first on a set piece just outside of the 18-yard box, as pin-point delivery from Luca Mayr-Falten and a diving header from Lars Eckenrode gave Tormenta FC a 1-0 lead.
With two minutes of stoppage time to play in the first half, Tormenta FC was awarded another set piece from distance. Mayr-Falten delivered another dangerous ball into the run of two unmarked South Georgia players. The right bounce off the chest for Nick O’Callaghan and Tormenta FC headed into halftime up 2-0 on the defending league champions.
Greenville responded in a big way, getting one back within five minutes of the second half start from none other than the league’s top scorer and Greenville’s point leader, Marios Lomis. His header from the box off an Abdi Mohamed service put the Triumph back in the match, a 2-1 game with almost an entire half left to play.
Both teams had their chances throughout the second half; but with less than 10 minutes left to play, Tormenta was awarded a penalty kick, and Marco Micaletto made it 3-1 with his fourth goal of the season.
With their win tonight, South Georgia has won four straight matches for the first time since the club’s first League One season (2019). Greenville has now gone down a goal in three consecutive matches, losing two of the last three. The Triumph have suffered a number of injuries to key players throughout the last few weeks including 2020 All-League First Team selection Noah Pilato and veteran central defender, Evan Lee while Alex Morrell was unavailable to play in tonight’s match due to receiving two yellow cards, a subsequent red card, in Wednesday night’s match against NCFC.
Triumph SC returns to Triumph Stadium at Legacy Early College for Pride Night presented by hummel on Wednesday, June 23 at 7:00pm. The weeknight match will mark this season’s first matchup between Forward Madison and Greenville Triumph.
