Georgia Storm Defeats Metro Louisville FC in Southeast Conference Matchup

By Georgia Storm

With a Southeast Conference second-place finish looming, Georgia Storm hosted Metro Louisville FC at Grisham Stadium on Saturday, June 26, 2021 at 7:00 pm for their final home match of the 2021 regular season.

Georgia Storm started the match slowly, making lots of errant passes in the first 10 minutes, but Metro Louisville was unable to capitalize on any of the mistakes.  In the 20th minute, Storm left winger Wilfried Kamdem Tchoupa beat his man down the line and drove into the box where a Metro Louisville player clipped him from behind, giving the referee no choice but to point to the penalty spot.  From the penalty spot, Stephen Bivens found the bottom left corner to start what turned into a goal fest for the next 70 minutes. 

Minutes later, Kamdem Tchoupa got behind the Metro Louisville right back and chopped the ball onto his left foot before smashing a far-post finish into the upper corner, giving Storm a little cushion.  In the 32nd minute, the ball was left for a rebound in the box where Stephen Bivens volleyed against a player on the line before finishing on the third attempt, extending Storm’s lead to 3-0. 

In the 40th minute, Kamdem Tchoupa got to the corner of the box before sliding a pass across to Storm’s Stephen Bivens who drove the ball into the bottom left corner for a 4-0 lead.  Just moments later, Storm’s midfield combined with Stan Vandierendonck who struck the ball near post as it clipped the inside of the post.  The ball rebounded to Stephen Bivens who finished for his fourth goal of the game and a 5-0 lead. 

To close out the first half of goals, Storm’s midfield found Stephen Bivens again at the edge of the area where he turned and rocketed a left-footed strike into the upper left top corner for the 6-0 lead.  Unfortunately in the closing moments of the half, there was a coming together of two players at midfield that saw a Metro Louisville sent off with a red card, giving Louisville a whole second half to play down a man. 

As Storm made two subs at halftime, they began the second half with a 6-0 lead with Stephen Bivens scoring five goals in the first 45 minutes.  However, there was a big second half of goals ahead. 

Three minutes into the second half, the ball broke to Kamdem Tchoupa who finished nicely to the back post to make it 7-0.  In the 55th minute, Storm got a corner kick that Kevin Fitzgerald took, delivering a cross that Jacob Bivens headed in to give Storm an 8-0 lead. 

In the 57th minute, Storm made the rest of its remaining substitutes.  Moments after coming on, Avery Shepard got clean through on goal after some neat combination play, making it 9-0.  After a few hard minutes of play, the ball broke to Stephen Bivens who passed through to Shepard who finished for his second goal of the match to make it 10-0. 

In the 75th minute, Storm’s Jeisson Palencia picked the ball up around midfield on the right hand side.  He then went 70 yards with the ball, beating five players before passing around the goalkeeper to make it 11-0.   For the 12th goal, Kamdem Tchoupa slotted a far-post shot from the left edge of the area for his hat trick. 

In the 80th minute, Metro Louisville countered off a Storm corner kick before it was broken up by Storm’s Kevin Barajas who played to Stephen Bivens.  Jacob Bivens, up from the previous corner kick, overlapped down the right wing when Stephen Bivens laid the ball as Jacob Bivens whipped a right-footed cross to the oncoming Avery Shepard who finished to make it 13-0.  This gave Shepard his own hat trick. 

To close out the scoring, Kamdem Tchoupa smashed one in the far right corner to complete Storm’s hurricane of a performance with a resounding 14-0 home win to clinch second place in the Southeast Conference.  After today’s performance, Stephen Bivens has now scored 10 goals during the 2021 NPSL season. 

“What a wonderful performance,” Storm head coach Josh Bivens said.  “We started a bit slow out of the blocks, but after that first goal, we attacked the rest of the night with a sharp, quality final product.  This is a great performance as we begin to prepare for the Southeast Conference playoffs ahead.” 

Storm will travel to Boone, North Carolina to play third-place Appalachian FC on July 3 next week. 

Photo Credit: Matt Laczko