Stormwatch912

Carlyn Presley (7) fires a shot Sunday against NC Courage (Photo: Luke Martin) So it's been a minute since I've posted here. This past weekend, for the Statesboro Herald, I covered both the USL1 and USLW games for Tormenta in Statesboro, sent those stories off to my editor and.... yeah. Who is to say what happened to those articles. I thought maybe they were going to be print exclusives. Which, if so, cool. I mean, they can do what they like with it so long as the check clears. Turns out they were not as they didn't appear in the print edition yesterday. It's a little annoying not to be able to share it with you all, but just know they were the two best stories I've ever written. They were clear, concise, illuminating, thoughtful, enlightening and humorous. I reached heights of prose that I've never before and likely never will again. The player comments were incredible. Open, honest, authentic but also explained what happened in a way the average fan could unde...

Nick Akoto and Tormenta return to Jagermeister Cup play Saturday. Fresh off their 4-0 win over Chattanooga in which they dominated in pretty much every aspect of the game, South Georgia Tormenta will look to carry that momentum forward as they enter the third match of group play in the Jägermeister Cup Saturday as they face the Richmond Kickers at Tormenta Stadium. Richmond and Tormenta first met in Week 3 with Tormenta coming away with a 3-1 regular season road victory over the Kickers. Conor Doyle, Niall Watson and Mason Tunbridge all scored the Ibises with Richmond's score coming off an own goal. The Kickers were able to create chances in that game, outshooting Tormenta 16-10 (7-5 on target), but Ford Parker came up big with critical saves and Doyle's goal four minutes in gave Tormenta some breathing room. Since then, Richmond has gone 1-2-2 in League one and Jägermeister Cup play with their lone win coming over Central Valley back on April 6th. Needless to say, Richmond is ...

So I went to work at my day job on Monday and like any other day, I did my normal day job tasks as best as I could. I noticed it was a little cool in the office and wondered if I might be coming down with something, but my coworkers said the same thing about it being cold to them too. I'd been tired all day, but I figured that was just me not wanting to be at work on a Monday. Anyway, I head home and tell my wife that I felt tired. She told me I looked tired (thanks, honey) and should go ahead and get to bed. This was around 6 p.m. Honestly, it sounded like a great idea, so I took some NyQuil and went to bed and was asleep around 6:15 p.m.  I stayed in bed until 4:15 p.m. on Tuesday except to make some Gatorade and to take a shower at some point Tuesday morning. I slept for the overwhelming majority of those 22 hours with my only symptoms being a sore throat, no appetite, and a desire to sleep for 22 hours. I can't say I was better when I finally got up, but I wasn't worse....

My favorite Tormenta/Red Wolves game. Hi and welcome back. Despite only having one USL1 game this week, it's been busy on the writing front. If you missed it, I had my monthly Power Rankings on Wednesday. I had a Tormenta W-League preview that ran in the Statesboro Herald yesterday even though their season started on Wednesday. (They ran it in the print edition, and as a weekly, it only prints on Thursdays so that's why it was a day late... the good news is the W-League team won 5-0 in their season opener. We'll have more on them next week.). My recap of Saturday's matchup with Chattanooga will be posted on the Statesboro Herald website likely Sunday sometime. (I write it on Saturday nights, but often after the sports editor is asleep so it's posted on Sundays. I'll be sure to post a link on Twitter.) I think that's all the housekeeping for now as we can turn our attention to a matchup of the second and third most handsome USL1 managers when the Red Wolv...

You can't spend all summer at soccer stadiums. It's Power Rankings time again. Will Richmond every let go of their stranglehold on the top spot? Why is Omaha where they are?  A quick refresher. We here at Stormwatch912 don't do Power Rankings like those other sites who try to tell you who is playing well or poorly and use fancy things like statistics and strength of schedule and goals scored or allowed to rank the teams. There are plenty of places that do that . (I mean, not a lot of places. You won't find it on ESPN or anything like that. But there are enough that the world doesn't need one more set of Power Rankings from me.) Instead, we take the road less traveled. Actually, more often than not, we have to create our own road because no one else is dumb enough to go this way, but it's the way we've started and I don't think we can stop now. But enough banter. You want the rankings. This month, with Summer vacations coming up, I enlisted my Special Ass...

Watching Tormenta/Greenville on the big screen at Tormenta Stadium Hi friends. Sorry for the brief absence following the Charleston game. Sometimes you just need a break, you know. And with my wife out of town and my kids having end of the school year stuff, this took a back seat to other things. You all seem to have gotten along well enough with out me for a few days and are none the worse for wear. So lets get to it, shall we. Saturday night's Greenville game marked the third straight road game for Tormenta in eight days, all against some of the best teams USL has to offer. After falling to Omaha 4-2 the previous Saturday in League One play and then losing in heartbreaking fashion to Charleston on Wednesday in the US Open Cup, it was on to Greenville for the Jägermeister Cup against a Triumph team that defeated Tormenta 3-0 just a few weeks ago. As you likely know by know, Greenville, scored two second half goals to come back and claim the 3-2 win, capping off a week where, hones...

Photo Credit: Tormenta FC This was always part of the deal.  We know this when we sign up. We don't like to talk about it. But it's always there. We focus on the other parts. The parts that excite us. The parts that make us hug and high five complete strangers in the stands. That's the appeal. That's what we watch for. The exhilaration that comes from your goalkeeper making back-to-back saves to keep your team in the game. The thrill that comes moments later when your striker gets in behind the defense and then waits to make a perfect pass to the oncoming forward who manages to tie the game in the final 10 minutes . The joy that comes from seeing a perfectly played through ball to a streaking forward who beats the goalkeeper and makes you start to believe that maybe this will be your night.  You've already looked ahead, because that's part of the deal too. You see what awaits with a victory that seems more and more possible. An unprecedented matchup with Goli...

Photo Credit: Tormenta FC Tavio D'Almeida and Tormenta face off against Charleston on Wednesday night. So, ummmm...yeah. I guess the good news is that's the only time Tormenta has to travel to Omaha this season (at least until a potential playoff matchup, but that's way, way down the road.) Union Omaha scored two early goals and despite the stats looking fairly equal, Tormenta wasn't able to make the scoreboard equal as they fell 4-2. It was the first time Tormenta surrendered four goals* in a game since.... last October when they fell 4-0 to Omaha in the second to last game of the regular season.  Nortei Nortey opened the scoring with a blast from 40 yards out that found its way through the defense and took a bounce in the box that seemed to take goalkeeper Ford Parker by surprise as it bounced past him for the game's opening score. Four minutes later, Omaha would strike again. This time off a corner kick, they had a shot riccochet off the crossbar and eventually c...

Tormenta's W-League season starts really soon. Well that got here quick. The Tormenta USLW team starts training this week and while there are still signings to announce according to Head Coach Jim Robbins, there have already been several members of the team named so far.. Practice started Wednesday and there's not a lot of time between then and the first game, which will be just two weeks when they travel to face the Fayetteville Fury. From there it's a sprint as the team will have 12 games in six weeks as they try to reclaim the title they won in 2022.  I may have missed some signings, but I tried to update this as they came in to provide a bit of background on the players announced so far. I can't stress enough how enjoyable the games are and if you have the chance to go, you absolutely should make it to a game and see for yourself.  The first home game for Tormenta will be Sunday, May 26 when they host the NC Courage U23 team at 6 p.m. (Programming note: I'm goin...

Photo Courtesy: Tormenta FC Sebastian Vivas celebrates after scoring goal against Charlotte this past Saturday. We're going to get to Omaha. I promise. But before we look forward to Saturday night's matchup, we need to look back. And not looking back at Charlotte and the Jagermeister Cup game this past Saturday. We need to go back almost two weeks to Tormenta's 3-0 home loss to Greenville. It goes without saying that Tormenta's performance that night was not great. You don't lose 3-0 if you played really well for 90 minutes. There were stretches they played well, but then there were more stretches when they didn't and the end result is what it is.  Tormenta Manager Ian Cameron was quite frustrated after the match. Some quick context for you. Usually after the game the team huddles for a quick debrief and the players and coaches walk over and give high fives or take photos or sign autographs for the fans before either going to the locker room or coming to talk to...