Tormenta W-League Wraps Up Season With Win

Jodi Smith and Tormenta had their best
regular season in team history.

The playoff hopes were dead to begin with.

Nope, that kind of opening only works if there's a happy ending like with Scrooge in A Christmas Carol. This story, from a Tormenta perspective, does not have a happy ending. But we need to back up a bit before we get in to Sunday night's Tormenta W-League game.

First off. Hi. I'm glad to be back. (Well, not necessarily back from my beach vacation, but back here with you all.) I know I missed a lot while I was gone. On the League One side, Tormenta fell to Chattanooga 3-2 a little more than a week ago and then prevailed in penalties in the Jagermeister Cup game against Fuego this past Saturday. I made it 20 minutes in to that one before the sweet embrace of slumber enveloped me. Andrew, my oldest, stayed up for the whole thing... ahhh to be 15 and have no real responsibilities in summer again. 

In W-League action, NC Fusion forfeited their game a week ago and Tormenta came away with a 1-0 win over Wake FC on Wednesday setting up Sunday night's game with Fayetteville Fury. To set the stage, Tormenta wasn't going to to win South Atlantic Division after losing to NC Courage at the beginning of the season. That meant their only chance to make the playoffs was to earn a wild card spot. The USLW playoffs are set up so that each division winner automatically gets in and then the other playoff spots come from each conference, which is made up of three divisions. Basically the best second place team in the conference gets in, but because not everyone plays everyone, it can also come down to tiebreakers like goal differential and whatnot.

Anyway, after the game with Wake FC, Tormenta needed to win and have Morris Elite to tie or lose and either Eagle FC to lose or Lancaster Inferno not to get four points in their final two games. Tormenta could still get in on tiebreakers if they were tied with Eagle FC or Lancaster, but would need to win their final game by either 10 or possibly 21 depending on who they were tied with. Morris Elite lost their finale, so that was one piece of the puzzle in place. Lancaster defeated Richmond on Friday, giving them three points and then only needing a tie to likely advance on goal differential. Eagle FC won their finale on Saturday, clinching a spot and having the playoff spot come down to Lancaster and Tormenta with Lancaster playing early on Sunday and Tormenta playing at 7:30.

Lancaster would win their game, meaning by around 3 p.m. Sunday, Tormenta knew their hopes of another playoff run were off the table. That didn't mean there wasn't anything to play for. The whole idea of the USLW League is that it's training for players who have professional aspirations and if that's the case, you don't take a game off when you have a chance to showcase your talent. On a team level, Tormenta had a chance to end the season with only one loss, which would match the 2022 team for fewest losses in a season. This year's squad already set the team record for wins and points prior to Sunday's game. 

"We told our girls, 'let's come out and be us. Let's play our way,'" said Tormenta Head Coach Jim Robbins. 

Tormenta did just that, coming away with a season-ending 7-0 victory to cap off a 9-1-2 (W-L-D) season and set team records for regular season wins and points (29). 

"Jim was saying this is a test of our character," said Courtney Chochol. "Even though we were out of the playoff running, we're still going out there and showing the league that we deserve to be in the playoffs regardless of the standings."

It didn't take long for Tormenta to take control of the game, getting two quality shots off in the first two minutes though neither found the back of the net.

In the 9th minute, Briana Eads moved forward from her center back position before finding Chochol on the left. She beat her defender to the end line and played a perfect cutback pass to Carlyn Presley. Her shot was initially saved by the goalkeeper, but Presley was able to knock home the rebound to put Tormenta ahead 1-0. 

Two minutes later, Jodi Smith's cross found Dara Russo at the back post and she laid off a ball to Presley at the six yard box where she touched it in for an easy goal and a 2-0 advantage. 

In the 25th minute, Presley shared the wealth, this time with an assist as she found Chochol for the goal to extend the lead to 3-0. Just before the half, Presley would find herself open on the top-left corner of the box and curled a shot inside the far post to extend the lead and secure a hat trick.

"I love playing here. I love playing with these girls and to be to do it surrounded by so many good people, it's really nice," Presley said of the season. 

Presley's family was in attendance from Texas and able to witness her hat trick. 

"Very, very exciting that they got to be here to see that. It always helps and makes it feel just a little bit better (when they're here,)" Presley said. 

Former Tormenta Media Relations guy (and current FC Dallas Media Relations Coordinator) Edwin Pintor passed along a note to me that Presley's hat trick was just the fourth in Tormenta history in USLW or League One. (Azaad Liadi, Kazaiah Sterling and Amy Andrews were the other three).

The second half saw Tormenta come out firing again, with Chochol getting her second of the match in the 47th minute off a brilliant pass from Russo (her second assist of the night) to make it 5-0. In the 60th minute, Chochol would become the fifth Tormenta player to record a hat trick when she would put in a rebound.

"I didn't realize we had two hat tricks until Courtney had her third and Rich (Flemings) made the comment over the speaker," Robbins said. "Both of them played great, but give credit to the people underneath who supplied them the proper ball at the right time in the right place."

Chochol echoed Robbins' sentiments, saying the individual hat trick is nice, but it doesn't happen without everyone else on the field contributing. 

Eads would get her second goal of the season (her first was a bomb from beyond midfield) in the 81st minute with a strike from 25 yards out just out of the reach of the Fury goalkeeper to finish off the scoring for Tormenta. 

"Put me up top," Eads joked after the game. "Apparently I can't score from inside the 18. Only outside," she said. 

If I'm being honest, I felt bad for Fayetteville.  They were winless on the year, had scored only one goal all season. On top of that, apparently they hit traffic on the way down I-95 Sunday and showed up to the game 30 minutes or so before kickoff. They could have easily mailed it in and got back on the road to North Carolina with the season mercifully over.

The didn't do that, however. They were overmatched and Tormenta was basically able to move the ball around at will against the Fury, but they never quit. Their goalkeeper, and I apologize as I don't have her name, played far better than the 7-0 score would indicate. 

Presley, Eads and Chochol all said the summer experience taught them a lot that they look forward to taking with them as move on.

"It's been great. It exceeded all my expectations," Chochol said. "The competitiveness and the eliteness of this team is something that really pushed me this summer."

"It's been incredible," Presley said. "Just meeting so many new people and the growth we've had as a team and as individuals. I will be able to take so many lessons on the mental side of the game and the physical side of the game. The experience is something I'm going to carry on to all that I do in the future."

 "Working with different people from all over the country is just amazing," Eads said. "It's a great experience all around and I'd recommend it to anyone."

Despite missing the playoffs, Robbins said this year's team was among the best he's ever been a part of.

"This is my 32nd year doing this and I don't know if I've ever been with a team that was this high caliber, was this high class and that was this competitive and really tried to play the game the right way," he said. "I've told them countless times this summer, when I go to bed and close my eyes, there's a certain way that I think the game should be played and I think they hit that almost every game this summer."

"That's a testament to them and their coachability and teachability and their willingness to play the beautiful game the right way. It was fun and I'm super proud, it was awesome for me to be a part of that. I almost feel more privileged to work with them and watch them."

Tormenta averaged 2.42 points per game, which only 12 teams in USLW exceeded. Unfortunately for South Georgia, four of those twelve were in their division or conference, leaving them out of the playoff picture. 

"We knew, with the change in division for us, we knew that was going to be a good test, going against these North Carolina teams that we knew a little bit about," Robbins said. "We knew it was going to be a good challenge. For us to go 9-1-2 and show that we're quality in this division, I think it was important."

"Now the challenge is, 'Who is coming back?' meaning who don't we put into the pro game and we'll see who comes back. And then the recruiting process is going to start real soon. We had a great team this year and we know we've got to bring in at least the same level of player to produce the same results next year, so it's going to be a great challenge, but we're looking forward to it and looking forward to doing the same thing on the field in 2025," Robbins said.