The South Georgia Tormenta FC stormed past the visiting Savannah Clovers FC 4-0 Wednesday night in Statesboro to book their spot in the Third Round of the 2024 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup. Tormenta scored early, added a late second-half goal, another one in stoppage-time and dominated the patterns of play in-between during this first-ever meeting of Coastal Georgia regional opponents.
With just seconds expired in the first half the Tormenta high pressure forced a Clovers’ turnover in the attacking third of the field that Pedro Fonseca whipped into the Clovers’ box where Niall Watson nodded the hosts into the lead in the 2nd minute. From this opening moment, Tormenta never looked back.
More Tormenta pressure constantly turned the ball over in advantageous positions and kept the Clovers off-balance as they tried to find a way back into the match. Tormenta looked like a team playing in their sixth competitive match (four USL-1 and two US Open Cup) while the Clovers were more unsure of their patterns playing in just their second competitive match of the year due to the delayed start to the 2024 NISA regular season.
Tormenta added a second goal in the 35th minute as Jackson Khoury drove a low cross through the Clovers’ box eluding all the runners except Joshua Ramos who smashed the ball into the open net for the 2-0 halftime advantage.
In the 58th minute Tormenta’s Fonseca again provided a perfect service from the flank finding a streaking Sebastian Vivas inside the box with a low driven ball for a third goal on the night. The nightcap to balance the scoring came with just seconds to play in the 90th minute as Austin Wehner was first to react to a loose ball in the box pouncing on the opportunity to push the final score to 4-0.
Goalkeeper Drew Romig posted another Open Cup clean sheet for Tormenta and was there to put out any dangerous moments the Clovers created.
“It’s always helpful to score early,” said Tormenta head coach Ian Cameron after the game. “But what I really liked about the group is how they responded to that goal, they went back on the front foot. It was a very solid performance. David Proctor (Clovers head coach) is a good coach with a good group of players. There’s lots of good footballers in this county and Savannah Clovers have a bunch of them but I thought our unity, our team culture, our organization showed tonight.”
Wednesday’s game marked just the third time in the Modern Era (1995-present) that an Open Cup game has featured an all-Georgia matchup. In 2012, the NASL’s Atlanta Silverbacks defeated the NPSL’s Georgia Revolution 1-0 in the Second Round. The two teams met again the following year in the same round, with the Silverbacks winning 3-2.
South Georgia Tormenta now waits for the third round draw to see which USL Championship side they will face in mid-April.