Myrtle Beach Mutiny

2018 US Open Cup Round 1: South Georgia Tormenta’s late rally ends Mutiny in Myrtle Beach

May 13, 2018 by Ian Livingston Brooking

South Georgia Tormenta and Myrtle Beach Mutiny battle for the ball in an all-PDL matchup in the 2018 US Open Cup. Photo: Ian Brooking — South Georgia Tormenta and Myrtle Beach Mutiny battle for the ball in an all-PDL matchup in the 2018 US Open Cup. Photo: Ian Livinston Brooking

South Georgia Tormenta FC scored twice in the final 15 minutes to defeat the Myrtle Beach Mutiny 2-1 in the First Round of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup on Wednesday, May 9.

Two hundred and fifty people were on hand to see what was a very physical game at North Myrtle Beach Park & Sports Complex. A hard foul on the Mutiny’s Romario Piggott forced the forward to step off the pitch for a moment while a crunching tackle by Alex Nelson of the Mutiny led to the defender being given a yellow. Twenty-six fouls were called throughout the match and five yellow cards were handed out.

The first 15 minutes of the match was dominated by Tormenta FC as a majority of their seven first half shots came within that time frame.

However, two of Tormenta FC’s best chances came minutes apart midway through the first half, with a shot going high over the bar in the 19th minute and a free kick rattling the crossbar just seven minutes later.

The Mutiny’s best chance in the first half came in the 31st minute as Nazeem Bartman’s shot went whiskers wide of the post, keeping the match scoreless with less than a quarter of an hour to play in the first half.

The Mutiny would control the first 15 minutes of the second half, creating more of an attacking presence and keeping Tormenta FC on their heels in their own half.

The constant pressure by the Mutiny led to a goal in the 56th by Myrtle Beach’s Rooby Dalusma. Dalusma gathered the loose ball outside the box, dribbled in and ripped a shot that breezed past Tormenta’s Pablo Jara and into the side netting.

John Miglarese, head coach of Tormenta FC, talked about the message he was telling his team from the sidelines after going down a goal.

“We’ve talked in the past week or so about finishing games strong and playing our best in the final 20 and 30 minutes,” said Miglarese. “I thought we had a great first half and we were unfortunate to not be a goal up. I have to give credit to Myrtle Beach as they had us on our heels and none of our schemes were working so we had to hang in there.”

Just over 10 minutes after scoring the opening goal, Dalusma had to be subbed off due an injury.

Tormenta would take this as an opportunity to up the pressure on the Mutiny defense. Jad Arslan zigged and zagged his way through the Mutiny defense and put the ball past Junior Santos, tying things up at a goal apiece in the 76th minute.

Miglarese talked about a possible extra-time game plan if the match was going to have an extra thirty minutes to decide a winner.

“We were watching our subs in case extra time happened,” said Miglarese. “Once we got that second goal, we burned our last sub to get an experienced defender.”

Six minutes later, Toni Soler’s free kick took a slight deflection but still found the back of the net to give Tormenta FC a 2-1 lead with less than 10 minutes remaining in the match.

“I think we showed a lot of character in the final 20 minutes,” said Miglarese. “We got a bit lucky with the deflection on the second goal but in the end, it’s a win.”

Tormenta FC now advance to the second round of the US Open Cup to play the USL’s Charleston Battery next Wednesday, May 16 at MUSC Health Stadium. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

Changing leagues means Myrtle Beach Mutiny, Midland-Odessa Sockers will be left out of 2017 US Open Cup

February 9, 2017 by Ian Foster

The format for the 2017 Lamar Hunt US Open Cup has yet to be announced, but two teams changing leagues has opened the door for others to qualify.

Based on the 2017 US Open Cup handbook (distributed by the USSF), TheCup.us determined which Premier Development League (PDL) teams and which National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) teams were likely to qualify for the 104th edition of the tournament. The criteria for qualification was the results of the previous league season.

Now, with the Myrtle Beach Mutiny and the Midland-Odessa Sockers, changing leagues, this makes them ineligible to next year’s competition. Myrtle Beach moved from NPSL to PDL while Midland-Odessa did the reverse.

This isn’t so much of a policy as it is, an example of simple sports logic. Each league is awarded a certain number of spots in the tournament, so if a qualified team leaves a league and joins another, which league should they represent? The choices are: a league they just left or the league they just joined where their credentials for qualifying are season results with a rival league? Myrtle Beach and Midland-Odessa simply don’t have league results from their current league, making them ineligible.

This opens the door for one additional team in both leagues, though which team that is unclear since the precise allocation has yet to be announced by the United States Soccer Federation (USSF). However, we can harbor a guess based on recent tournaments and last summer’s breakdown of which PDL and NPSL should make the tournament (now updated to reflect the changes).

For the PDL, the process is simple: every team below Midland-Odessa moves up one. PDL sent 19 teams to the 2016 Open Cup. So if the allocation remains the same, that’s good news for teams like SC United Bantams, who are next in line assuming the league will maintain 19 entries. The Burlingame Dragons are sitting 20th, while Derby City Rovers are now No. 21.

The NPSL situation is slightly more complicated. They make their Open Cup qualifying list based on playoff results, as well as regional and conference standings. This essentially means that only certain teams in the South Region are affected. The Atlanta Silverbacks, who were likely on the outside looking in based on last year’s 15-team NPSL allocation, jump to the #11 slot and into the tournament if last year’s format holds true. Jacksonville Armada U-23s jump to the 18th position while other South teams (Houston Dutch Lions and FC Wichita) are unaffected.

MORE: Which PDL teams will qualify for the 2017 US Open Cup?
MORE: Which NPSL teams will qualify for the 2017 US Open Cup?

To be clear, this is not a result of the rule that disqualified Minneapolis City SC, as first reported by FiftyFive.One. They are expected to be disqualified because they changed leagues midway through the 2017 US Open Cup qualifying process.

2016 US Open Cup Round 1: Charlotte Eagles get first amateur win, hold off Myrtle Beach Mutiny in OT

May 14, 2016 by Zach Hall

While the rain might have held off on Wednesday night, the drama didn’t as the Charlotte Eagles won 3-2 against the Myrtle Bay Mutiny in overtime.

With the win, the Eagles advance to the Second Round of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup in their first game as an amateur club. They were a professional team in the USL from 1993-2014 until dropping down to the Premier Development League prior to the 2015 season.

It was Charlotte that would have both the first and last word scoring in the 49th and 59th minutes, both put away by Jamie Siaj the junior from Pfeffer University. Both goals were assisted by Charlotte native Tresor Mbuyu.

Just a few minutes later, midfielder Santi Moar almost put the game away making it 3-0, but couldn’t find full contact with Mbuyu’s cross. The miss would come back to haunt the Eagles, as Ryan Arambula found himself with the ball at his feet after a scuffed clearance and had no problem putting it past Will Pyle and into the net.

Charlotte didn’t make it any easier for themselves on what was essentially the next play of the game, with Cam Boytes earning himself a straight red card for taking down a streaking Tobenna Uzo. The Eagles defense would hold strong for 20-plus minutes until the dying breaths of added time when Jon Ander Ibarrondo scored an absolute golazo from 25 yards out, taking a quick restart from a free kick, marching it up 30 yards by himself with no pressure and gave Pyle absolutely no chance and keeping the ball out.

The referee would call an end to the ninety-minutes just seconds after the Eagles restarted the match, all of a sudden tied up 2-2 and down a man.

When extra time began, it was obvious both teams were pushing hard for a winner. Even down a man, the Eagles played a tough, on the ground possession game. In the end however, it would be from penalty spot that Charlotte would earn their winner and even then it wasn’t with drama.

In the 109th minute, Eagles midfielder Marco Micaletto played a lovely give-and-go sequence with a teammate to get into the box where Jeremy Bonyaa took him down, heard the referee’s whistle blow and point to the spot. Micaletto took the ball himself and fired home a shot to the keeper’s right, but the ball bounced off the bottom pole of the goal frame and for a few seconds the entire stadium thought the shot had hit the post and not gone in. After a few seconds of staring at the field waiting for someone to say something, it was soon realized that the ball had in fact gone completely into the goal and the home team was ahead once more, 3-2.

After the winning goal, the Mutiny would pile and pile on pressure, throwing men forward at the depleted Eagles side, but Pyle and his defense kept any and all attacks away from the net until the final whistle blew.

“It’s really exciting to see the character of the group,” said Eagles head coach David Dixon. “They showed a lot of heart to pull back into the game. I think we gave up an easy goal and then to have a screamer right at the end, it’s really hard to bounce back from that. I think we’ve got a good group and I’m excited to keep going.”

The Eagles will move on to Round 2 where they will host the USL’s Charlotte Independence, the club that took their place when they left the league. They will square off on Wednesday, May 18 at the Charlotte Christian School at 7 p.m. ET.

Zach Hall is your friendly neighborhood soccer fan with a blog, based in Charlotte, NC. He runs CrownTownSoccer.com and hosts the Crown Town Cast – the only Charlotte soccer focused podcast in the whole wide world. Find him on Twitter, @crowntownsoccer.