Chattanooga, playoff picture and more

Photo Credit: Tormenta FC

The previous item you were reading online ran longer than anticipated, so we join this edition of Stormwatch912 already in progress.

...and with that we wrap up our reviews of the 3-3 draw with Westchester and the 3-2 win against Richmond, bringing us to this weekend's matchup with Chattanooga.

Currently Tormenta is in 11th place with 20 points through 20 games, just two points outside of the playoff picture. Omaha (21 points in 19 games) and Portland (21 points in 17 games) sit ahead of them, with Forward Madison at 19 points through 19 games* right behind Tormenta. In other words, the hunt for the playoff spot is tight.

Saturday's match is against the Chattanooga Red Wolves who sit atop the table right now** with 37 points and just two losses in their 19 games so far. Just looking at the stats, it seems Chattanooga has unlocked the key to soccer. The score a lot of goals (31 so far, good for second in the league) while they also don't give up many goals (19, good for fourth fewest in USL1.) If I were a coach, I'd run the "score goals and don't give up many goals" play all game long to see how it works.

Chattanooga is not a team that likes to possess the ball, preferring to strike with counter attacks. In their four games this month, they have had possession rates of 23, 23, 26 and 38 percent. That's, ummmm, that's not a lot. 

Tormenta, meanwhile, has seen possession rates of 50, 59, 50 and 51 in their last four games.

As I mentioned earlier, Tormenta has been on an offensive heater since interim Manager Mark McKeever took over, scoring six goals in two games, with Mason Tunbridge accounting for three of those and finding his scoring touch that he had earlier in the year. He now has eight in USL1 play on the year, two behind J.C. Obregon Jr. for the league lead.

While the six goals in two games is clearly a positive development, South Georgia is still surrendering too many goals on defense. Austin Pack had one of his vintage Austin Pack games against Richmond but there were still far too many opportunities for the Kickers in that match for Tormenta's liking. Pack is currently fourth in the league with 45 saves on the year, which is good, but it also means Tormenta is facing a lot of shots. 

The day job has been busy (welcome back college students) so I haven't had a chance to even get out to see a practice under McKeever, something I'm hoping to remedy next week. During McKeever's time in Knoxville he was known as a defensive coach and it'll be interesting to see what he can do with the Tormenta defense over these final 10 games.

Doing some incredibly basic projections based entirely on points per game and extrapolating that out through a full season, it's looking like the playoff line will be at roughly 36 or 37  points as that is what Greenville and Portland are on pace for. That would require Tormenta to get 17 points in 10 games, which seems doable. Tormenta has one game each against the top three teams in the standings Chattanooga (Saturday), Spokane and Knoxville among their final 10 games, but their remaining seven games are all against teams currently 7th or lower in the standings. 

That's not to give false hope, but if you were designing a schedule for a playoff push, playing teams on the south end of the standings seems preferable to a top-heavy schedule. They also play five of their remaining 10 games at home, which will be nice as Tormenta is finishing up a four-game road trip Saturday in Tennessee.  I certainly can't speak for the players, but I didn't mind missing out on the August South Georgia heat as they were on the road. 

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

News and Notes:

Mason Tunbridge was named to Team of the Week following the Westchester game. 

Keaton Pray was signed by Tormenta. He's 18 and I'm not going to think about that. 

Tunbridge (again) and Gabriel Cabral were named to Team of the Week following the Richmond game.

Greenville, the lone USL1 team to make it to the Jagermeister Cup knockout round, advanced to the semifinals with a win over Indy Eleven.

Richard Strickland over at Southeast Soccer Report has a recap of the Tormenta win over Richmond. 

Former Tormenta goalkeeper Drew Romig retired from professional soccer to take on a coaching role at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville. 

RiverCity93 had their recap of the Richmond/Tormenta game. 

The USL Show also broke down the Richmond/Tormenta game. 

Forward Madison will have a W-League team starting in 2026. Always good when there are more W-League teams. 

John Morrissey's newsletter is always a must read, and not just because he said something nice about me at the bottom. 

*I wrote this before Madison's game Thursday night. Maybe they have more now. Who knows? 

**Madison is playing Spokane, so it's possible the Velocity will be atop the table if they won last night. This Thursday game is really making it hard to write something for Friday morning ahead of time. 

Sorry if I shattered the illusion that I wake up extra early to write.