We meet again, old friend
After missing out in 2023 and 2024 and, honestly, midway through July it looked like 2025 was going to continue that trend, Tormenta is just a win over Greenville or a Madison draw/loss away from punching their ticket to the dance. (Does the USL issues paper tickets to the dance? It seems like it's all digital now. Could you crash the dance? Could Richmond just show up to One Knox and demand to play in the first round of the playoffs? Is Darren Sawatzky going to walk up to Ian Fuller and be all "Mind if we dance with your dates?" like in Animal House? )
Anyway, with just two games remaining, Tormenta could finish as high as 4th and host a playoff game, but that's about as likely as me suiting up for Tormenta this season. A lot would have to happen and, frankly, it's not worth getting in to.
The more likely scenario has Tormenta somewhere between sixth and eighth when the season wraps up. While just a point behind Portland in the standings, the Hearts of Pine have three games remaining. Omaha sits in fifth right now, three points ahead of Tormenta. But we're getting bogged down here in what if's and that's not what we're here for.
My first season covering Tormenta was in 2022 and it was a scary ride as I tried to not screw things up covering them for the Statesboro Herald. But it was fun and sports stress remains the best and the thought of Tormenta back in the playoffs is an exciting one. There's a certain buzz in the air for playoff games that isn't always there in the regular season.
And with Promotion/Relegation coming in the near future, I don't know how many more playoff games there will be. We don't know the structure of what that looks like, but there's no guarantee that playoff games are a part of what comes next. So any playoff game is something to savor.
Maybe we'll talk about that later, but for now, Saturday night, Tormenta travels to Greenville to take on the Triumph. Wait, is that right? Again? (Pulls up the schedule, One, two... three. Huh, yeah, the fourth time, ok then.)
Yes, it's our old friends Greenville, back again for the fourth time this season. Tormenta defeated Greenville 2-1 back in April in Jagermeister Cup play behind Mason Tunbridge's two goals. In August, the two teams tied 2-2 on the night goalkeeper Austin Pack cemented his status as a League One Legend and scored on a header at the death to tie it up. Then just last month Tormenta won 2-1 in Greenville as Makel Rasheed and Yaniv Bazini scored.
Greenville is still clinging to playoff hopes as they currently sit in 10th place with 32 points. If Charlotte wins tonight against Chattanooga, then Greenville will be eliminated. If that doesn't happen, a loss or draw against Tormenta ends their playoff hopes. Greenville would also need a win against One Knox in their regular season finale to keep their hopes alive.
The Triumph are led, offensively, but the always dangerous Leo Castro (seven goals) and Ropapa Mensah (6 goals) in league play. Chevone Marsh and Rodrigo Robles each have added five goals for Greenville. Those four have accounted for 23 of the teams 37 goals, which is 62 percent of their offensive output. Connor Evans leads the league with 66 chances created, which is far and away the league leader.
In fact, Evans lead over second place (Charlie Ostrem of Omaha with 50) is as big as the difference between Ostrem and 12th place (Max Schneider, also of Omaha). I'm not a soccer tactician, but limiting Evans seems like a good strategy for Tormenta.
Tormenta, meanwhile, leads the league with 48 goals on the season and leads all of League One. Niall Reid-Stephen is just two off the league lead with his 13 goals, 10 of which have come since August. The man is on a heater. Yaniv Bazini (9) and Mason Tunbridge (8) round out the top three scorers for Tormenta.
I asked Tormenta Manager Mark McKeever about Reid-Stephen following their win over Richmond at the end of September, but much like Ian Cameron before him, McKeever wasn't too keen on talking about individual performances.
"I'll avoid talking about any of the individuals, because for Niall to score the goal, it takes the players around him to create the opportunities to give him the ball. Niall is a special player, but we have other good players as well and we're on as good as the team, we're only as good as the unit," McKeever said. "Niall does what he does very, very well, but so does everybody else on the field."
That's a perfectly fine answer and one you kind of expect a coach to give and I don't fault McKeever (or Cameron before him) for that response. And he's right that it's a team effort for Reid-Stephen or anyone else to score, but it's really ok to brag on your players from time to time.
Both teams have struggled defensively this season, with Greenville giving up 38 goals on the year and Tormenta giving up 46.
However, since August 30 (admittedly the date picked to make the stat look as good as possible,) Tormenta has given up just six goals over seven games. Coincidentally, Tormenta has not lost during that stretch.
Tormenta comes in following a draw against Spokane that snapped the Ibis' six-game winning streak. However, they are 7-1-2 in Mark McKeever's first 10 games as Manager for South Georgia.
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. in Greenville and is also available on ESPN+. I'm going to be honest and say there's a chance I don't get to watch this one as Georgia Southern football also kicks off at the same time. We may be having people over to hang out and watch that, but my wife may opt against that because we're old and who can stay up until 10:30 for a game on a Saturday night and then clean up the house after company leaves? As Bowling For Soup sang, "Getting old sucks but everybody's doing it."
Comments
Post a Comment