Tormenta FC

Tormenta FC

Full name	South Georgia Tormenta Football Club
Founded	2015
Stadium	Optim Sports Medicine Field Statesboro, Georgia
Capacity	5,300
Coordinates	32.409722°N 81.796111°W / 32.409722; -81.796111
Co-owners	Darin Van Tassell Netra Van Tassell Jeff Spencer
Head coach	Ian Cameron
League	USL League One
2023	USL League One, 7th of 12 Playoffs: DNQ
Website	Club website
Home colors Away colors

South Georgia Tormenta FC, or simply Tormenta FC, is an American soccer organization based in Statesboro, Georgia, United States. Founded in 2015, the club fields a professional team in USL League One, the third tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, as well as a pre-professional team in USL League Two called Tormenta FC 2 (which is on hiatus since the 2023 season) and a pre-professional team in USL W-League. The team colors are midnight navy, sky blue, silver, and magenta. The team's crest shows an ibis.

History

South Georgia Tormenta FC was founded in 2015 making it Statesboro's first pro team in any sport in 60 years, since the Statesboro Pilots of baseball's Georgia State League folded in 1955. Owned by Tormenta FC LLC, the operations of the franchise are steered by Darin Van Tassell and Netra Van Tassell. The word "tormenta" means "storm" in Spanish.

2016

On May 21, 2016, Tormenta FC hosted its inaugural home match against the Carolina Dynamo in front of 3,105 fans.

Tormenta FC won their first match in club history on June 16, 2016 against the Charlotte Eagles in a 2–0 decision. The club then followed up that victory with a second consecutive win on June 18, 2016 by defeating the Carolina Dynamo 1–0. On June 23, 2016, Tormenta FC not only scored their first ever home goal, but the team managed to win their first home match as well; a 1–0 victory over Southern West Virginia King's Warriors.

Tormenta had a five-game win streak snapped in a 2–1 defeat against the King's Warriors on July 2, 2016.

The club finished 6th out of 8 in the South Atlantic Division.

2018

On January 25, 2018, South Georgia Tormenta FC was announced as the first founding member of USL League One for 2019. The team had an undefeated regular season in 2018, clinching the Deep South Division championship. Tormenta FC hosted the conference playoffs in Statesboro, Georgia.

2019

On March 29, 2019, Tormenta FC hosted the inaugural match of USL League One, winning 1–0 against the Greenville Triumph and setting a new attendance record of 3,519. After a successful start to the season that saw the team in second place, a second-half downturn with 2 wins in their last 16 matches brought them down to 6th place and out of a playoff spot.

2020

On September 16, 2020, Tormenta announced that it had promoted John Miglarese to Technical Director, and promote previous assistant coach and head coach of Tormenta 2, Ian Cameron, to head coach of the first team.

2021

On June 8, 2021, Tormenta announced they will be fielding a women's side to compete in the new USL W League beginning in 2022.

2022

In the off season, the club signed former Tottenham Hotspur F.C. and English youth international player Kazaiah Sterling. The club finished the season in third place, qualifying for the first round of the USL League One playoffs. In the club's first ever playoff appearance, they defeated sixth seeded Charlotte Independence and then second seeded Greenville Triumph before winning the final match against Chattanooga Red Wolves SC by the score of 2–1.

Stadium

Tormenta FC currently plays at Optim Sports Medicine Field, a 5,300-seat soccer-specific stadium in Statesboro. They previously played at Eagle Field at Erk Russell Park on the campus of Georgia Southern University from 2016 to most of the 2022 season.

Sponsorship

Record

Year-by-year

As of October 14, 2023

^ 1. Top Scorer includes statistics from league matches only.

Head coaches

As of October 14, 2022

• Includes Regular Season, Playoffs & U.S. Open Cup. Excludes friendlies.

Players and staff

Current roster

As of January 22, 2024

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Technical staff

As of June 15, 2021

• Ian Cameron – Head Coach
• Jordan Bell – Assistant & Goalkeeping Coach
• Jordan Melia – Assistant Coach
• Drew DeJohn – Performance Coach

Front office

As of July 21, 2023

• Aaron Cranford – Senior Director, Business Operations
• Bryce Judy – Senior Director, Soccer Operations
• Colt Carver – Team Operations
• Brian Evans – Coordinator, Digital Media & Events
• Anthony Olivo – Coordinator, Ticket Sales & Service
• Lily Gibbons – Coordinator, Recruiting
• Lars Eckenrode – Coordinator, Special Projects
• Alex Wagner – Coordinator, Sales and Marketing
• John Schlieman – Senior VP, Corporate Partnerships

Tormenta FC 2

In January 2019, the team announced that it would continue to field a team in USL League Two while also playing professionally in USL League One. The team, Tormenta FC 2, continues to play in the Deep South Division and has won the conference once in 2019. During its inaugural season, the team won the Southern Conference for the first time in organization history.

The 2 team has also qualified for two U.S. Open Cup tournaments in 2019 and 2020, with the latter being cancelled and the tournament spot being transferred to 2021.

The club announced in January 2022 that Tormenta 2 would take a one-year hiatus from USL League Two in order for the club to focus on developing its academy.

Honors

USL League One

Playoffs

Winners: 2022

USL League Two

Deep South Division Champion: 2018

Player honors