It seems that the new glow of a professional team is wearing off for South Georgia Tormenta FC as the squad enters Week 5 of the USL League One season. After winning their first two games, Tormenta has been winless since, and picked up their first loss last weekend at the hands of the Chattanooga Red Wolves, 3-2. For now, though, South Georgia still clings to its first place spot, but Lansing, North Texas, Chattanooga, and Greenville all are surely smelling blood in the water. Each of these teams have at least game in hand and sit only two points behind. Tormenta will try to right the ship and further separate themselves from the crowded table tonight as they travel a season high 1,696 miles across the country to Tucson, Arizona, for the only time this year.

What happened in Chattanooga?





Things up in Tennessee didn’t start the way Tormenta wanted, to say the least. A quick start from the Red Wolves led to a 3-0 deficit by the 17th minute. The defensive issues stemmed in part from the rotated lineup put out by Tormenta. Two of three starting defenders, Josh Phelps and Lars Eckenrode, were absent from the 18 man gameday roster, presumably injured. This lead to a debut for Daltyn Knutson, but also pushed Conner Antley into the center, somewhat reducing his role in the attack (where he still managed bag a goal). This different lineup caused a loss in familiarity, which was taken full advantage of by Chattanooga with some clean passing.

Another factor, contributing more in the first Red Wolves goal, was the unfamiliar playing conditions Tormenta experienced at David Stanton Field. It was the first time playing on turf this year for South Georgia, which took some adjusting from the team early on. When Pablo Jara comes out to intercept a ball in the 8th minute, he seems to misjudge how the turf will impact the bounce of the ball, causing it to bounce over him and leave an open goal for Steven Beattie to score.

Despite the slow start, and the continuation of no first half goals streak by Tormenta, the second half brought positives to a game that they could have folded into. Tormenta was able to win the possession battle for the first time this year, keeping the ball just under 62% of the game. The fight continued until the end, and Tormenta was able to produce two late goals from Antley and Chris Hellmann to make for an intense finish. Although he doesn’t show up on the scoresheet, Dalton Pando acted as a sort of supersub for the team, coming on in the 62nd minute and pushing forward to lead the comeback effort. His energy certainly created sparks for the Tormenta offense to get back on their feet and try for a result.

Ahead to Tucson

Now with the loss in the rearview mirror, South Georgia will look for points in a rematch with FC Tucson, this time out in Arizona. Tucson visited Statesboro on April 3rd, where a free kick from Devin Vega gave them the lead in the second half. However, a quick, thrilling comeback led by Conner Antley sent the fans home happy with a 3-1 victory. Tucson will want some sort of revenge on their home turf, and will also look to get back into the win column, having not won a match since their opening game in Orlando on March 30th. Their home opener last week saw them trade late goals with Toronto FC II, finishing in a 1-1 draw. With Devin Vega now back in Phoenix, Tormenta will need to watch out for some other threats when the game kicks off late Friday night. Some of these players are Jamael Cox, a creative force out wide who scored the team’s lone goal against Toronto, and Kyle Venter, who looks to make his debut for FC Tucson in this game. Venter was drafted by the LA Galaxy in 2014, and has spent his time since then at four different USL Championship teams before joining Tucson. As he returns from injury, his experience in the back will give Tormenta a much harder time attacking than in the previous meeting.

Projected Lineups:

FC Tucson:

Tormenta:

Score Prediction: FC Tucson 1-2 Tormenta FC