Forward to Madison

Sunset at Tormenta Stadium remains undefeated.
(From Tuesday's USL W-League match)

Hi again everybody. I did not mean to go this long without posting here, but the Statesboro Herald loaded up the Brinks truck and offered me money in exchange for work and I accepted their offer. If you missed, here's a link to my story of the League One side falling to Greenville Sunday night and then in Thursday's print edition (and online), I had a story on the USLW side's 5-0 win over the South Carolina Bantams. One or both may require a subscription or an email address to register to read. I'd like to think they're both worth your time. 

By the way, was I the only one who didn't know what a bantam was? I'd kind of assumed it was like a ghost or a specter or something like that. But it's not, it's either: 1. Any of numerous small domestic fowls that are often miniatures of members of the standard breeds or 2: a person of diminutive stature and often combative disposition. I'm no marketing or branding expert, but that seems like a weird thing to name your soccer club. Nevertheless, Tormenta came away with a win over them and my son and I learned something in the process. 

Now we turn our attention to the last team to remain unbeaten in League One play as South Georgia will travel to take on Forward Madison at 3 p.m. on Saturday in a match that will be shown on ESPN2. (Which is good for the club and the league, but bad for cord cutters like me. Anyone want to have me and my oldest over on Saturday afternoon?)

"Madison's got a really vibrant crowd, which is awesome," Ian Cameron said at his press conference on Thursday. "It's an opportunity for us to really create some new fans and to be the shining light of USL1. The commentators are going to be talking about us as a former champion and it's a chance to show that we still have that caliber and we plan to do it again." 

In addition to the crowd and atmosphere, Madison is just a really good team this year. They're currently 4-0-3 (W-L-D) in regular season play and 3-1 in Jägermeister Cup action on the season. They sit third in the regular season standings, just one point behind both Omaha and Greenville, though Greenville has played nine games while Omaha and Madison both have played seven. Madison leads the league in goal differential so far in 2024 with a +10 margin. Tormenta is one of five teams on the positive side of the +/- goal differential with a +2 mark through their 11 games. 

Offensively, the Mingos are led by Christian Cheney's three regular season goals and one score in Jagermeister Cup action. Derek Gebhard also has four goals across both competitions while former Tormenta player John Murphy Jr. has two goals on the campaign.

As a team, Madison is second in the league in goals scored with 16 (Tormenta has 15 in four more matches) and leads the league with three clean sheets while giving up only six goals in league play. 

Before we get too bogged down in stats, the big picture view is Madison scores lots of goals and doesn't give up many goals. It doesn't take a soccer genius to figure out that's going to win you a lot of games.

The two teams matched up in week two of the regular season with Niall Watson's goal in the sixth minute of stoppage time salvaging a draw for Tormenta.

"They had the better team the first time we played," Cameron said. "But we expect to turn the tide this time. We've had success at that field and there's no better opportunity than Saturday to beat the only undefeated team in the league. That's your opportunity on live TV. I shouldn't have to say much more to the players than that." 

Cameron said Madison is an experienced team and staff that have been together for a few years and are seeing the results of that consistency.

"I think what you've got there is a staff who had a really good team the first year together. They didn't quite make the playoffs but everybody in the league knew they were a good team. The second go around, they got off to a flying start and made the playoffs. Maybe they didn't go as far as the could have or should have went in the playoffs, but they've been emerging. They've had the same system each year, and come year three of that staff, they've managed to retain a log of players how have teen through that journey and keep that base (of players," Cameron said. 

"They are one of the teams in the league who I'd say their style and their formation that they want to play is mapped very, very well to the players that they brought in. They've probably had a couple of iterations of that, but they've got a group now that can clearly execute exactly what the staff envisioned," Cameron continued, adding that they've brought in players with experience and the staff knew what to expect with those additions. 

"It's a lot of proof of concept in the players and they've married that very well t their style. So they're in a really good place at that. They're an exciting team to watch, but our job is to nullify those big threats," he said.

One change that Tormenta has made in recent weeks is moving Nick Akoto from the back line on defense to the front line in a forward position. Akoto, who has said he will play wherever the team needs him, was first shifted forward against Charlotte in a move to take advantage of the space and Cameron tried it again against Greenville in a move he said wasn't quite as successful, but that Akoto has the skill set to play both lines.

"If more of our players can understand more than one position then when they go on to their next organization at the (USL) Championship or MLS one day, then hopefully they'll be more equipped to know the all-around game so when they get moved into that position they can thrive in it," Cameron said.

Cameron said the move of Akoto up top can also be seen as a challenge to the forwards on the roster who may look at a defender moving up top and wondering why they aren't the ones being slotted in to that position.

"Often players, their job is to make it impossible for the coach to drop you. That it'd be crazy to drop you," Cameron said. "I don't think all of our attacking players so far have necessarily done that. So then it leaves the door open for the staff to maneuver some pieces."

One of those players who has made his presence known and worked his way onto the roster and starting lineup has been Austin Wehner. He made his first career start on Sunday and scored his second goal of the season in Tormenta's loss on Sunday night. 

"What was good was the things that got him into the lineup, the things that got him into the squad were present in the game, right? That's always the thing. Keep those habits," Cameron said. He added that Wehner took advantage of his opportunity and will remain on the squad for this weekend's matchup.

With a win, Tormenta will have it's 50th USL League One win in club history and their next goal will be the club's 200th in League One regular season play.

Kickoff is set for 3 p.m. Eastern. 

Tormenta's USLW squad gets key win in Charlotte

Playing their third game in six days, Tormenta was able to use their depth to come away with a needed with against the Charlotte Eagles as they chase a playoff spot Thursday night.

Elis Nemtsov scored two for her third brace (and second in two games) and Ashley Henderson scored as well to give Tormenta a 3-0 win. Momo Nakao and Jhenesis Ellerbe picked up assists for Tormenta in the victory.

With the win, Tormenta moves to 17 points and second place behind the North Carolina Courage. (Though they're 0.01 behind in points-per-match to the North Carolina Fusion.) Tormetna will face Charlotte again on Wednesday and, with a win, will set up a huge showdown with the North Carolina Fusion in a game that both teams will need to win to keep their playoff hopes alive. 

In a case of bad luck, that game will coincide with the first day of my beach vacation and while I probably could drive back from South Carolina to watch and cover it, I'm not sure my wife will go for that. Fortunately the Tormenta W League Twitter account is good about posting updates and maybe I can say I'm going to take a stroll on the beach and then just stream the game. 

Either way, Tormenta needs to get past Charlotte again on Wednesday while the Fusion need to get past Fayetteville on Saturday and Wake FC on Tuesday to set up that clash. Wake FC knocked off the Fusion 1-0 in their first meeting on June 4 and Tormenta fans should be hoping for the same result when the two meet again. 

Tormenta Unified Team 

Tormenta's Unified Team was scheduled to play Greenville's Unified Team this past Sunday night, but due to unforeseen circumstances, Greenville's wasn't able to make it. That didn't stop things as players from Tormenta's academy teams took the field as opponents and the game went on.

The Special Olympics Unified Team aims to promote social inclusion through sports. This is the first year Tormenta has had a Unified Team composed of athletes with special needs from the community. Players were signed to Tormenta contracts, have had regular training sessions and a media day and wear the same jerseys as the USL League One or USL W-League players.

The match took place immediately following the Tormenta/Greenville match and even though Greenville didn't have a team playing, the Triumph's Head Coach, Rick Wright, stayed to watch and support the players at the beginning of the game.

Members of the Tormenta Academy teams and the USL W-League players were on hand as well as all of the USL League One team watching, cheering and supporting the players as they came away with a 13-3 win.

Tormenta Manager Ian Cameron spoke about the event at his press conference and said he it was a wonderful experience to be out there watching them play. "The personality of these young adults, the joy they bring to playing soccer with our pro team. The way the organization corrals around them (was special)," he said. "And if not more importantly, the people in their life who are providing these opportunities and we're seeing the upside where these young people are getting to celebrate and play and they have all the good upside."

"But there's hard, there's really hard times in a lot of these young people's lives and the adults and the guardians around them and those hard times a and keep on presenting them and providing them with opportunties to flourish. There are some real unsung heroes. It's easy for us to come in and give them a showcase on one night and give them the full experience. And we did that. The organization stepped up and it was pretty cool. But it does remind you of the amount of work for the family or for people in the extended family and that's really, really neat. A massive, massive tip of the hat to the people in these young people's lives and the attitude they have towards it is incredible. It's amazing. It wa amazing to see and it's inspirational, no doubt about it."

Tormenta's Unified Series Team is slated to meet Greenville's team when both League One teams meet again in Greenville in October.

Rich Flemings, Tormenta's Director of Production and Outreach, said on his podcast  League One The Rocks (Hear his full impressions of the Unified Team's match at around 48:45 of the podcast) that the front office staff had meetings this week to see what other events the team could do with the Unified Series Team as the season progresses. 

This turned out longer than I expected it to, but hopefully it makes up for the lack of posts this week. Enjoy you're weekend and we'll try to be back at it next Monday with a recap of Tormenta and Madison.