Hearts Tie Tormenta in the Heat

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USL1 Portland Hearts of Pine

Hearts Tie Tormenta in the Heat

July 7, 2025 - United Soccer League One (USL1)
Portland Hearts of Pine News Release


PORTLAND, Maine - Playing their third match in nine days, on a night hot enough to elicit the team's first cooling break of the season, Portland Hearts of Pine (2-3-7) scored first but couldn't hold on, settling for a 1-1 tie with South Georgia Tormenta FC (3-7-3) on Sunday night.

Portland started brightly, and in the 40th minute came inches away from scoring when Austin Pack misplayed a Nathan Messer cross; captain Mikey Lopez slammed the ball past Pack and towards the goal, only to be denied by the post.

In the third minute of stoppage time, Titus Washington broke free down the left wing and drove in a low cross that flashed across the face of goal. JayTee Kamara came in from the right wing to meet it, cut inside onto his preferred left foot, then fired a shot inside the near post to give Portland a 1-0 lead.

Star signing Séga Coulibaly, who was Los Angeles Galaxy's starting center back as recently as 2022, made his eagerly awaited debut coming out of halftime with Hearts looking to press their advantage in the second half. However, he went down clutching his leg shortly after the restart after colliding with a Tormenta player, and was eventually subbed off for Shandon Wright in the 63rd minute.

One minute after Coulibaly left the match Tormenta tied things up behind Jonathan Nyandjo's first goal of the season. Niall Reid-Stephen redirected a looping cross back into the middle of the penalty area, where an unmarked Nyandjo was able to send a one-time shot home.

Hearts had a quality look in the 69th minute when Messer picked Liadi out in the penalty area, but Liadi's header was scooped up by Pack. In the 87th minute it was Pat Langlois' turn to pick Liadi out in the penalty area, but with time winding down the result was the same-Liadi's effort found Pack instead of the back of the net.

That Portland was unable to score in the second half was certainly not for lack of trying: Liadi and Langlois took six shots between them after the break. But in a sport that's often a game of inches, Hearts were never quite able to break the Tormenta defense.

Nyandjo had one clear chance in the 77th minute, only to be denied by a brilliant Hunter Morse reflex save. As the half wore on though Tormenta appeared content to settle for a point, and while the hosts continued to pepper the South Georgia goal, the visitors did not take a single shot over the match's final 22 minutes.

Up Next: Portland will travel to the Lone Star State on July 12 to face Texoma FC (5-5-4) at Bearcat Stadium. Tormenta is unbeaten in its last eight league matches, and in that span have moved from the bottom of the table to sixth place, six points clear of Portland, who have two matches in hand. The match will stream live on ESPN+ at 8:30 p.m.

Comments from Bobby Murphy on the loss against AV Alta FC and the tie against South Georgia Tormenta FC: "I think it's points dropped on both occasions. I think it's frustrating. But you know, you have to pick stuff up and move on, so that's what we're gonna do. We worked on set pieces and being dangerous on those. I thought every corner kick, you know, we were dangerous for the most part."

GOALS

POR - Kamara 45'+3 (Washington)

TRM - Jonathan Nyandjo 64' (Reid-Stephen)

DISCIPLINE

YC - Stretch (TRM 17') Washington (POR 17'), Coulibaly (POR 59'), Quiñones (72'), Stretch (TRM 74), TRM bench (87')

RC - Stretch (TRM 74)

LINEUPS

PORTLAND - Hunter Morse, Nathan Messer, Sean Vinberg (Séga Coulibaly 46', Shandon Wright 63'), Kemali Green, Colby Quiñones (Pat Langlois 81'), Mikey Lopez ©, Michel Poon-Angeron, Masashi Wada, Ollie Wright (Natty James 81'), Jaytee Kamara (Azaad Liadi 63'), Titus Washington

Unused substitutes - Walter Varela, Kash Oladapo

TORMENTA - Austin Pack, Gabriel Alves, Callum Stretch, Makel Rasheed, Oscar Jimenez, Aaron Walker, Gabriel Cabral, Taylor Gray (Mason Tunbridge 71', Yaniv Bazini 90'+8), Jonathan Nyandjo, Niall Reid-Stephen, Sebastian Vivas (Jackson Simba Kasanzu 78')

Unused substitutes - Sam Jones, Alon Dray, Conor Doyle, Handwalla Bwana, Finnley O'Brien

Check out the Portland Hearts of Pine Statistics



United Soccer League One Stories from July 7, 2025


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