RICHMOND, VA — The Richmond Kickers (4-5-5) earned a hard-fought come-from-behind draw at South Georgia Tormenta FC (6-9-2), Saturday night, after Emiliano Terzaghi and Oalex Anderson’s unanswered second-half goals nullified the hosts’ lead.
The match in Statesboro, Ga. began with an unusual early penalty call in Tormenta’s favor after Jalen Crisler was booked for taking Azaad Liadi down in the box. Mario Micaletto converted the penalty and brought the scoreline to 1-0.
Around the 9th minute, Emiliano Terzaghi made a great solo tackle and forced a counterattack with a string of great passes with Victor Falck. Terzaghi managed to get a shot off that was deflected for a corner. Several minutes later, Stanley Alves managed to beat a Tormenta defender for an aerial ball and get a headed effort off at goal, but Tormenta goalkeeper Pablo Jara was there to collect.
Near the 25-minute mark, Tormenta managed to link up some passes and get a shot off, but Luke Pavone and Zaca Moran put their bodies on the line to protect the goal and deflected the shot away. Pavone would step off the field after going down from his heroic defensive act and conclude his evening on the pitch, making way for Nathan Aune.
After several minutes of Richmond retaining possession and passing around the backfield, they managed to find some space in Stanley Alves near the halfline and found themselves rushing forward in a counterattack with Jonathan Bolanos finding good space to get a shot on goal, but his attempt went wide of the post.
Shortly after, Richmond marched on and with the genius of an outside-of-the-foot pass by Aune, the Reds saw themselves in a fantastic position around the Tormenta box. Nil Vinyals cut a pass back into the center of the box but it was intercepted just before Bolanos could get to it. Right on the 40-minute mark, Nil Vinyals made a dashing run through Tormenta territory and rattled off a shot at goal, but Jara was able to get behind it.
With Richmond knocking at the door for the equalizer, Alves found a huge gap in the Tormenta defense and fired off a shot that sent Jara diving to knock away. The Kickers surged forward, spending most of their time in and around the Tormenta box for the remaining few minutes of the half.
Richmond came back out on the field with the same energy they left it with and about 50 minutes in, Stanley Alves nutmegged Joshua Phelps on a shot at goal but Jara was right behind him to deny yet another Alves attempt. Despite an enthralling display of attack from Richmond over the last half-hour, Micaletto would find space for a cutback pass to Kobe Perez to kick it into the goal bringing Tormenta up 2-0.
But Richmond wouldn’t bow their heads and exhibited the resilience that made them successful in their recent matches against North Texas SC and Fort Lauderdale CF. The Reds responded shortly after with an audacious Terzaghi flick from an aerial pass by Matt Bolduc into the box, beating Jara and keeping the Reds in the match, 2-1.
Richmond continued on the front foot trying to get Terzaghi more chances at the goal but Tormenta looked to see out the game on top. With some more attacking options coming in off the bench, Oalex Anderson, Cam Vickers and Hernan Gonzalez looked to change the tides of the match.
In the 86th minute, the Kickers earned a corner kick that found its way into the center of the box at Anderson’s feet who had a go at it, but it was deflected out. Then, off the deflection from another Kickers’ shot, Anderson managed to get a foot in to beat Jara and level the scoreline, 2-2.
With four minutes of stoppage time added to the clock, Richmond tried with all of their might to knock a game-winner in, but the whistle blew, putting an end to their siege on the Tormenta goal for the last thirty minutes of the match. Richmond came from behind to draw level with Tormenta and earn a hard-fought point on the road.
The Reds will enjoy a return to their fans and home at City Stadium after a tough three-match week on the road. The Richmond Kickers will host FC Tucson for their first matchup of the 2021 season. The kickoff on Saturday, July 31 is set for 6:30 p.m.
Stay up to date with the latest news from the Kickers at www.richmondkickers.com and on the official team app.
BOX SCORE
First Half |
Second Half |
Final |
|
Richmond |
0 |
2 |
2 |
Tormenta |
1 |
1 |
2 |
LINEUPS
Richmond: Akira Fitzgerald, Chris Cole, Esteban Calvo, Jalen Crisler, Luke Pavone(30’ – Nathan Aune), Zaca Moran, Victor Falck(75’ – Oalex Anderson), Nil Vinyals(84‘ – Cam Vickers), Stanley Alves(59‘ – Matt Bolduc), Emiliano Terzaghi, Jonathan Bolanos(84‘ – Hernan Gonzalez)
Unused Substitutes: Austin Causey, Mumbi Kwesele
Tormenta: Pablo Jara, Stefan Mueller, Sergi Nus, Curtis Thorn, Joshua Phelps, Raheem Sommersall(59’ – Abuchi Obinwa), Luca Mayr-Fälten(70’ – Nicholas O’Callaghan), Ricardo Gomez(59’ – Vincenzo Candela), Marco Micaletto, Rodney Michael(60‘ – Kobe Perez), Azaad Liadi(80‘ – Kristofer Strickler)
Unused Substitutes: Carlos Avilez, Clayton Adams
STATISTICS
Shots |
Saves |
Fouls |
Corners |
|
Richmond |
20 |
1 |
6 |
7 |
Tormenta |
13 |
6 |
8 |
7 |
SCORING SUMMARY
2’ 62’ 63’ 88’ |
TOR TOR RIC RIC |
Micaletto Perez Terzaghi Anderson |
CAUTIONS SUMMARY
2’ 66’ 75’ 79’ 90’+2 |
RIC RIC TOR RIC RIC |
Crisler Calvo Liadi Cole Moran |
EJECTIONS SUMMARY
None