South Georgia Tormenta will look to extend their 2024 U.S. Open Cup run that has already seen them advance as far as they ever have in the oldest soccer tournament in the United States. And a victory may set up a historic matchup in Statesboro – the MLS Atlanta United coming to play at Tormenta Stadium.
But first, Tormenta will face its toughest test yet in this year’s edition of the tournament as they travel to face USL Championship Eastern Conference leaders Charleston Battery on Wednesday night for a chance to advance to the final 16.
Tormenta is a perfect 4-0 in their history as a professional team against teams from the USL Championship, which is a division above Tormenta in the U.S. soccer pyramid. They defeated Miami FC 4-2 earlier this year and Rio Grande Valley last year. In 2022, they defeated Birmingham and Charleston to advance to the round of 32 in the U.S. Open Cup, where they lost to MLS club Inter Miami.
The Battery lost on penalty kicks to Phoenix in the USL Championship game in 2023. Charleston is undefeated in Championship league play this season at 6-0-3 and in first place in the Eastern Conference of the USL Championship and are coming off a 6-0 thrashing of the Las Vegas Lights last week.
“They’re smashing everybody in the Championship, but I’ll be shocked if they smash us,” Tormenta Manager Ian Cameron said. “I’m not saying they’re incapable of beating us, but I’d be very surprised if we didn’t go there and the game wasn’t a very, very competitive match.”
“We will go there and make a really good challenge. I have no doubt about that,” he said.
Tormenta defender Preston Kilwien was on that 2022 Charleston team Tormenta defeated, though he didn’t play in the match against Tormenta.
“I loved my year in Charleston. I love the city. The fans. The organization was always awesome and treated me well,” he said.
While he’s enjoyed playing them in the preseason the past two years, he’s excited to play them in a game that means something.
“I have a few friends there that I still talk to, but when we stop on the field it’s going to be no more friends for the next 90 minutes or so,” he said.
Offensively, Charleston are led by Nicholas Markanich and Matt Myers. The duo have combined to score 17 goals on the season for the Battery.
“They’ve consistently in the past two years been at the top of the table for a reason,” Kilwien said. “They score a lot of goals, so that’s going to be fun as a defender to try to nullify that.”
Defensively, Charleston has been equally impressive, limiting opponents to only seven goals in their nine games while shutting out the opposition four times in 2024.
Tormenta, meanwhile, is currently 2-3-1 in USL1 play and sit in sixth place in the league standings. They played Charlotte on Saturday in the opening group stage round of the Jagermeister Cup, another in-season tournament among USL1 teams.
Wednesday’s match will be the first in the 2024 edition of the U.S. Open Cup for Charleston, while Tormenta has played three matches so far. South Georgia defeated FC America CFL Spurs in the first round, the Savannah Clovers in the second round and, most recently, Miami FC to advance to the round of 32.
"This game, we are definitely the underdog,” Cameron said. “So if we advance past this round, then we deserve a pat on the back. Getting to this round? It’s just what we expect, nothing less. So this is our first big challenge and hopefully we can pass it.”
The U.S. Open Cup dates back to 1914 and, other than 2020 and 2021 when it was canceled due to the COVID pandemic, it has been staged every year.
Tormenta is one of just three USL1 teams remaining, along with Charlotte Independence and Union Omaha. Tormenta is the lone USL1 team facing a USL Championship squad as both Charlotte and Omaha drew MLS opponents for their game in this round.
The winner of the Tormenta/Charleston game will host the winner of Charlotte and Atlanta United in the round of 16 with Atlanta being the heavy favorite to advance – creating the possibility that Tormenta could host Atlanta in the next round.
“I’d love it for our fans to have a chance to host Atlanta United,” Cameron said. “For our owners to, within four or five years of building (this organization), to be playing Atlanta United at home in the last sixteen. I’d love it for them. I can’t promise that we’re going to give them that but I can promise that we’re going to do everything we can to try to give this organization and the ownership that flagship game that we feel we deserve and our fans deserve. Hopefully we can do it.”
Kickoff for Charleston and Tormenta is set for 7 p.m. Wednesday at Patriot’s Point Soccer Stadium in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina.
