A revamped South Georgia Tormenta squad kicks off the 2025 USL League One season Friday night as they host the Richmond Kickers at Tormenta Stadium.

Tormenta returns six players from their 2024 team that finished in 10th place during the regular season. The team won only four of their 22 regular season games and were winless in their eight Jagermeister Cup games but did make a run to the Round of 32 in the US Open Cup before falling to Charleston.

With a disappointing 2024 behind them, Manager Ian Cameron and his staff set out to course correct heading into this season. 

“I think this is probably the strongest group, on paper, whose skill set suits the vision of what we’re trying to do. In 2022, we had success and I think that group matched what we were trying to do quite well. In the interceding years the match of what the intention of the staff is and the players we’ve managed to attract here has been a wee bit off,” he said. “It doesn’t mean our ideas are wrong and it doesn’t mean they are bad players. There’s just been a mismatch in terms of our intention and what the player should be.”

“Whereas with this group there’s been a concerted effort to make sure we match up what we’re trying to do as a staff on the field and what (the players) natural habits and capabilities are and when the two of them are married a bit better together, then I think it makes it a far more fluid spectacle.”

Training started in late January and the team played multiple preseason games, including against USL Championship side Tampa Bay, in the run up to the preseason as Tormenta Head Coach Ian Cameron and his staff worked to implement their system.

Cameron said the challenge of the preseason is introducing the principles and expectations of the players in such a way they can absorb the information and translate it into action.

“What we try to do is have the fundamentals of our shape with the ball, the fundamentals of our shape against the ball, and then the fundamentals of how we interact with each other as being our three pillars to start the season,” he said. “From there we can add some more nuances as time goes on.”

One of the new faces on the Tormenta team is devender Gabriel Alves, who joins Tormenta after spending the 2024 season with Rhode Island FC.

“It’s a very ambitious plan for us this year, not only for myself, but for the whole group,” he said. “We want to achieve great things this year. We want to make the community proud and be able to bring fans back to the stadium and play good soccer.”

Tormenta opens the season with three home games in League One play, including the first ever match for expansion side AV Alta when they come to Statesboro on March 15. In addition to the three league games, Tormenta will host a match in the opening round of the US Open Cup on Thursday, March 20 when they host Harbor City FC.

Cameron organized his preseason matches in such a way that the first few games aren’t extremely physical matchups and as the season draws nearer, the competition gets higher. This season, Tormenta had a preseason game with Tampa Bay of the USL Championship and an undisclosed USL Championship side.

The reason for those games, Cameron said, was to “get a competition against the most elite team in a 3-4-3 (formation) as possible and then the most elite team we can find with a back four as possible.”

The reason for that, he said, is to prepare Tormenta for the types of formations and systems he expects to see from various teams in League One this season. 

Taylor Gray, a forward, joins Tormenta this year from Chattanooga FC and said he can see the vision that the coaching staff has. 

“I can see the team becoming really dynamic and being able to do different things at different times,” he said. “But the one thing that really stands out to me is just the intensity of training and the focus on each tactical aspect,” he said.

Cameron knows it will be a challenge to find success in a league that is growing more competitive each year, but believes Tormenta has the capability of bringing another title to South Georgia.

“We know what we want to do on the field and we know that if we do it to the best of our ability we can bring a championship to a place like Statesboro, which is an incredible feat but it’s one we think we can replicate again,” Cameron said. 

Friday’s game will be the only independent professional soccer game taking place throughout the United States. It can be streamed on ESPN+. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at Tormenta Stadium.