Week in Review

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 understand. Alas, these articles seem lost to history.

Or, the more likely explanation is I emailed stories on the Sunday and Monday of a long holiday weekend and they got lost in the shuffle, which is disappointing, to be sure. But hey, if the worst thing that happened is I wrote stories that no one saw, then that's ok. Life will go on. 

Just to recap, on the USL1 side, former Tormenta legend Adrian Billhardt scored two goals (including one he called a "once in a lifetime" goal) to power Richmond to a 2-1 win over Tormenta in Jägermeister Cup play. 

On the USLW side, Tormenta and the North Carolina Courage were tied at one at halftime, but North Carolina scored three goals in the second half to give Tormenta their worst-ever loss in USLW play. They bounced back on Wednesday night with Elis Nemtsov scoring two goals while Ashley Henderson and Piper Biziorek adding goals of their own in the 4-1 win over the South Carolina Bantams. It could have been even more, but Tormenta's Carlyn Presley had a penalty saved midway through the second half. The women return to action Sunday at 6 p.m. at Tormenta Stadium as they host the Carolina Ascent USLW side.

"Great game for us," said Tormenta Head Coach Jim Robbins after Wednesday's win. "First half was a little slow. I think we possessed the ball a little bit more than we needed to at some times. It was good to get an early goal from the group."

Robbins expects another strong team in the Ascent when they come to Statesboro.

"We knew when we came into this division that NC Courage would be tough, Carolina Ascent would be tough knowing they have players that they are looking at for their Super League Team," he said. "It's going to be a tough matchup and we've got a couple of days to prepare."

Over on the USL1 side, Tormenta will face a Charlotte team coming off a 2-2 draw against Northern Colorado where they fell 4-2 in penalties in Jägermeister Cup play. Charlotte has not won since April 12 (excluding penalty shootouts in Cup play) when they knocked off Greenville. 1-0.

Charlotte is led by Juan Carlos Obregon, Jr. and his seven goals across all competitions this season. He and the other attackers were something the Tormenta coaching staff has focused on this week.

"Some of our staff have been designated to work with the back line. There's been a bit of training with that but there's also been a lot of clips shown to the boys to say 'these are the habits, these are the pockets he's trying to arrive in' and what kind of actions based on our skill set do we have to make because we have to get tighter," said Tormenta Manager Ian Cameron. "They've got a lot of attacking potency. If we go to Charlotte and get a shut out, that will really instill a lot of confidence in the back line because they've go so much of an attacking threat and so much individual quality that if you get the shut out then you've done a terrific job."

Charlotte is currently tied with Tormenta with 10 points, though they've only played six games compared to South Georgia's eight played. Cameron knows that the performance of his team so far isn't up to the standard he and the organization have set for the club.

"We can't accept where we are," he said. "We should be winning more of those games that we have let get away from us that shouldn't get away from us.

"If we want to mount the serious challenge that we expect, that this organization expects, that I expect, and that the players should expect of themselves, then they've got to kick it in gear soon. They've got to understand the details within the game that they've got to manage better to become the team they want to become  and have a chance to lift silverware at the end of the season."

This past week has been one of the better weeks of training, Cameron said, and he hopes that translates to the team having a clear identity on Saturday.

On a team littered with first-year professionals, Cameron said part of the challenge is creating and establishing relationships on and off the field so that a player can anticipate what their teammates are going to do and, likewise, have their teammates be able to anticipate what that player is going to do.

"Sometimes seasoned veterans can navigate that and are more comfortable with their own voice on the field and more comfortable with those micro-conversations," he said. "Our challenges with maybe two-thirds of the field being first year pros, they're a little bit more insular. A little bit more independent, a little bit more worrying about themselves.

"It's time for them to strip that off. It's time for them to have the awareness that you have a voice and you can communicate with your teammates and you can build relationships, and if you want to see the field, you need to prove to the staff that you're a part of a group that are really good at certain actions and you're part of a relationship that we need need on the field," Cameron said. "And if you're an individual piece, well you're at risk, your in jeopardy of whether you play. But if you can prove you can build relationships with teammates, then you increase your probability of playing and that's what these boys are starting to learn a bit more."

"I wish they'd learned it a bit faster, but we are starting to see that a little bit clearer and there's been a lot of pressure put on that in training," Cameron continued. "Maybe less tactics this week and more relationships and understanding what you have to do on the field to win.

Saturday's matchup is back to League play after the third round of the Jägermeister Cup. Cameron said he hasn't noticed much of a difference between league and cup games so far, though that's likely to change in the later rounds of the Cup play as teams know more about what they will need to advance to the knockout rounds.

"We're given thirty odd games in a season. You're trying to win as many of those as possible in whatever format they come," Cameron said, before adding "We're about to play, in the next couple of weeks, two teams that are right around us and they'll be upward pressure from teams who are below us who need to kick into gear and starting to show some of that. 

"It's time to go and try to get three points on the road. Take three points off of Charlotte in that individual battle between those two teams, and climb. And that's the opportunity that sits ahead of us."

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. and can be streamed on ESPN+.