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Emptying the Quotebook

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Photo Credit: Tormenta FC A couple quick hitters today as I'm traveling again, this time to the mountains of North Carolina for a big family gathering with my parents, their kids and their familes. Fortunately (for me) Tormenta is on the road at Portland this weekend so I don't have to miss another home game. That game is Sunday night at 6:30 and if Portland's game on Wednesday was any indication, it'll be a tough watch at times simply because of the camera position and the sun setting. With any luck, Tormenta will be attacking on the right side and have a lot of the possession until the sun finally disappears. (Or, and hear me out Portland, schedule your games for later in the evening and this won't be a problem.) One of the challenges of writing game stories for the Statesboro Herald  is that I can't always get everything in the story that I want to. Yes, it's writing on the web and there's no space limit, but the audience isn't there for 2,500 wor...

The Week (and a little more) that Was

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Photo Credit: Tormenta FC I tried to unplug as much as I could last week while I was away, but it's a poster's life for me so I was still on Bluesky far more than I should have been while on vacation. Nevertheless, we're back now. (At least briefly, I've got one more excursion coming up over the July 4th weekend but then we should be back to normal around here.) Let's go and hit the highlights of the week that was for Tormenta. Way back on June 21, the League One guys traveled to Knoxville and came away with a 3-0 loss, extending their winless streak to six games in all competitions. Frankly, the less said about this game, the better as it was typical of what we'd seen from Tormenta up until that point. They dominated possession (65/35), outshot Knoxville (12/10) and were still shut out in the loss. It was not a fun game to watch. Meanwhile, in better news Flavie Dube's hat trick led the W-League team to an 8-0 win over Wake FC on June 21. It was the sixth ...

The world's second largest outdoor cocktail party?

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I dabble in astrophotography. Not as often as I'd like, but since this is a vacation photo, I talked myself into posting it here.  I'm still vacationing at Hilton Head, SC, where they've had two shark incidents in the last week, so that's a fun thing to worry about on our trip. But, as promised, we have a guest post from Ian  of the Forza Naples podcast. A huge thanks to him for this. Take it away Ian: It’s finally time for the Florida Georgia Line Derby! Too much? Trying to think of something to celebrate the closest geographic team to FC Naples in the league currently. After a huge start from Naples, going 9 games unbeaten across all competitions and only allowing 3 goals, Naples has been dealt a bit of a reality check recently, not winning since beating Omaha 3-1 back on May 25. We’ve also struggled on the road, missing out on all three points against Chattanooga, Maine, and Miami FC in the cup, while only picking up one point at Greenville. However, I’m hopeful tha...

The non-definitive Ian Cameron interview

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Photo Credit: Luke Martin Ian Cameron prepares for Tormenta practice on June 19. As you may recall, I'm heading to the beach for a vacation next week, but I couldn't leave without at least giving you all a One Knox preview. And what better way to do that than to go straight to the man himself, Torment Manager Ian Cameron. I caught up with him after practice on Thursday where we talked about where his team is now, Knoxville, tweaks to the style of play he's made and, of course, we close out by asking .... well, you'll see, but it's worth it to get to the end, I promise. Is this the definitive Ian Cameron interview? Not even close. But in the history of interviews Cameron has done, this will certainly go down as one of them. This interview has been edited for clarity. I'll blame Google for any typos as they transcribed it, but really, they're my fault. Sorry. Stormwatch912 I'm just first off. I know you've had a chance to kind of review tape everything...

Two for the Show

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Photo Credit: Tormenta FC So it's been a little while since I've gotten to write here. The W-League season is a sprint and when Tormenta had like five home games in 16 days, well, I was just trying to keep my head above water in addition to my day job. Add in a couple of League One games and it was a lot. All of those stories from the W-League home games can be found at StatesboroHerald.com , but if I could sum them up, Tormenta created a lot of chances, didn't capitalize enough of them and other than the home game with the Carolina Ascent, they didn't do enough and didn't come out on top. Currently the W-League team sits at 4-4-1 (13 points)on the year. The four losses are the most the team has had in a season in its four year existence and nearly matches the total they had over the three years combined. That's not a knock on this year's squad, which has some talented players and play an entertaining style of soccer, but more of a commentary on just how goo...

Tormenta seeks "Signature Win" against NC Courage

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Photo Credit: Tormenta FC This has not been the season the Tormenta USL-W League team had hoped for. Coming in to tonight's matchup with the undefeated and defending champion North Carolina Courage, Tormenta is 4-3-1 on the year. The three losses are already tied for the most losses the team has had in a single season (2023, when they went 6-3-3). At this point they would need a LOT of help to make the playoffs so while it's not mathematically impossible, it's highly improbable.  But that doesn't mean there's still not a lot to play for. Every one of these young women playing for Tormenta are here because they want to play professionally and this is a chance for them to showcase their skills and develop as a player. Look, I love Statesboro, but I can think of a lot better places as a college student to spend my summers than the gnat capital of the world. Tormenta lost to the Courage 3-1 earlier in the season, but Manager Kian Brownlee said he thought South Georgia o...

Everybody's Working for the Weekend

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My home away from home this weekend "What are we doing this weekend?" It's something that I usually ask my wife every Friday morning as a way to figure out if I forgot any plans that she's told me about during the week. Stuff like a birthday party I'm supposed to take my youngest to or dinner with my parents or her birthday. You know the drill. Well, today I didn't have to ask that. For one, she's going out of town with our youngest to our nephew's birthday party. No, I'm not a bad uncle for skipping. Someone has to stay here to take my oldest to take the SAT on Saturday morning. But that's not why I didn't ask. No, this weekend I'm basically moving in to Tormenta Stadium.  You know how baseball teams will play a three game series over the weekend? It's kind of like that, but with soccer, and it's not a series, and three different opponents over three nights split between the W-League and League One guys. Ok, so it's nothing...