Something about doing the Charleston

Sunset over Tormenta Stadium Saturday Night

Today's blog title is a choose your own adventure. I can't figure out a fun headline about doing the Charleston, but you're all smart, witty, clever people who are also all above average levels of attractiveness and have discerning taste, so I am sure you'll come up with something great to use as a headline. 

It’s our last preseason game. Next week I get to direct you to the Statesboro Herald website for an actual game recap as the season starts. You know how game stories work. We hit the highlights, apply a narrative to the flow of the game and then have players and Manager Ian Cameron explain what went right, what didn’t and what that means for the team going forward. 

But it’s preseason still, so what are we looking for? Do we want a game story? Do we want reflections on the game? Do we want to hear about how Rich Flemings blows out the speakers on the PA system every time he goes to announce the starters for Tormenta? (Ok, that last one is literally just that. There’s nothing more to the story.)

Here’s what we need to know. Charleston won 3-1. Seba Vivas opened the scoring for Tormenta in the 29th minute. While he gets the credit for the goal, the buildup was also really well done. Niall Watson was on the receiving end of a long switch on the left side. He played a pick pass to Trialist 8 who directed his pass across the goal about eight yards out where Vivas buried his shot in the front of the net to put South Georgia ahead 1-0.

Leland Archer, who played for the Tormenta 2 team in 2017, answered eight minutes later with a header from a corner kick to equalize. 

Five minutes into the second half, Charleston would take the lead. This time a throw-in deep in Tormenta territory by the Battery eventually made its way to the top of the 18-yard box where a Charleston player was able to blast a shot through the defense and past goalkeeper Ford Parker to give the Battery their first lead.

Charleston would add another one in the 80th minute to extend the lead to 3-1. 

Tormenta created chances, especially early in the match. In the 9th minute, Jackson Khoury was able to get behind the defense to get one-on-one with the Battery goalkeeper, but his shot would be just a bit high. 

Khoury would have another chance later in the game when Trialist 8 was able to find Khoury again near the Charleston box. Unfortunately for Tormenta, he wasn’t able to get much on this shot and it went wide for a goal kick.

Despite the loss, Tormenta manager Ian Cameron saw several things he was pleased with from his team.

“We knew it would be unlikely that it would be 90 minute performance against a team of the quality of Charleston Battery,” said Cameron. “What we wanted from the game was spells of the game where we were strong. Spells of the game where we were very, very competitive and especially in the first half, there were spells where we felt like we hurt them and managed them and in the first half there were some spells.”

“We’ve got to write off some spells of the game where we weren’t where we wanted to be, fitness wise,” Cameron said. “We’ll really be focusing on chunks of the game where we were really up and at it and competitive with them.”

While there were areas of the game Cameron was pleased with, there were also areas that need to be addressed as the season opens next week. One of those is set pieces, where Tormenta surrendered goals on a corner kick and a throw in Saturday night. 

“For all the work the boys put in to manage them through the run of play, the first two goals were on set pieces in some way, shape or form just shows you their importance,” Cameron said. 

Cameron stressed that he didn’t want to bring up last season’s issues with defending set pieces as this is a new group forging their own identity.

“We hope we can take (tonight) as a learning curve and learn from it and rectify it for the course of the season,” he said. “It’s a lesson for the boys to show them and heighten our awareness and importance and some guys will rule themselves in our out of contention to start based on their ability to execute those plays because they’re so important.”

Defender Jack Dengler said it was a positive sign for the team to be able to implement and stick to the process Cameron and the coaches have implemented in the preseason. 

“We know the little kinks to work on and if we can break out against a team like Charleston and press a team like Charleston like we did then I’m confident against any team in our league so that’s good to see,” Dengler said.

Dengler, the longest tenured Tormenta player as he enters his third season with the team, wore the captain’s armband and said it was something he took pride in.

“I want to rise to the occasion and show that I’m the guy to take us to the next level and hopefully be that leader that people can look to in moments that we need help to get out of different waves of the game,” he said. “It’s an exciting thing for me.”

Tormenta’s new starting goalkeeper, Ford Parker, said Charleston as a challenging matchup that will hopefully prepare South Georgia for the opening of the League One season. 

“I think as our last preseason game, it was a good opponent and a good test for us,” he said. “I think in the first half we came out with the right energy and the right mentality and in the second half we just got a bit tired but I think we can walk away from the game and reflect and have a good mentality going forward.”

Tormenta was without a few players who were held out of Saturday’s matchup to allow some ailments more time to heal. Had it been a regular season game, Cameron said it’s likely they’d have been able to play but it was prudent to give them the night off to be ready for Central Valley on Saturday.

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Just a programming note: I’ll probably have a midweek post about something. I haven’t figured out what that is yet.  Thursday I’ll have an article in the Statesboro Herald as a general preview for the season and Saturday night/Sunday morning my story on Tormenta’s season opener will be on the Herald’s website. I’ll link it here, but you’ll need to go there to read it.

Finally, we’ve got a few weeks before the first road game of the season for Tormenta, but I haven’t quite figured out what that coverage will look like. I mean, I could do game recaps, but that isn’t fun and fun is what we're striving for. I’ve got a few ideas as to what to include in road game coverage since I’ll be watching on TV. If you have ideas or things you’d like to see, let me know.