South Georgia Tormenta FC emerged victorious over Central Valley Fuego on penalty kicks, following a 1-1 score on the road in Fresno, California in the USL Jägermeister Cup.
Tormenta attempted to open the scoring early, when Ajmeer Spengler sent a corner kick barreling toward the center of the box to be headed by Jake Dengler. Ultimately, Dengler’s attempt was not converted but showed the pressure South Georgia hoped to apply on Central Valley.
In the 17th minute of play, Daniel Steedman was awarded a free kick outside of the penalty area. Steedman sent the ball sailing into the box, past the keeper and into the net, marking his first professional goal. This unprecedented goal was South Georgia’s lone goal of the evening.
South Georgia maintained possession of the ball for more than half of the first 45 minutes. By the end of the first half, South Georgia found eleven shots on goal with multiple on target.
After these initial goal-scoring opportunities, the game became more transitional, as Tormenta pushed down the wing, continuously applying pressure to Central Valley’s backline.
In the 67th minute of play, Fuego found its desired equalizer to level the match. This goal catapulted the match into penalty kicks, a unique feature of the USL Jägermeister Cup to incentivize goal scoring and attacking plays.
Dengler, Joshua Ramos, Jackson Khoury, Austin Wehner, and Mason Tunbridge each took a penalty kick, but both teams made three of five shots each, sending penalty kicks into sudden death.
Defender Preston Kilwien made the first sudden death penalty kick, and a Fuego player missed immediately after. Pedro Campos successfully took the next shot, solidifying South Georgia’s win on penalty kicks.
