Playing in their fourth game in eight days, Tormenta’s W-League team battled fatigue and a South Carolina United team highly motivated to avenge a loss last week to South Georgia.

The Bantams were able to score two first-half goals and neutralize the Tormenta attack to come away with a 2-0 win Sunday night, dropping Tormenta to 4-3-1 on the season.

“I think we’ve done everything in terms of training and the coaching staff to help get them prepared and get them rested and do what we need to do off the field, but I think there’s fatigue factor,” said Tormenta Manager Kian Brownlee. 

“I think you also have to look at these games and take into account that when I watch our opponent play against us, they look like they’re setting up for us as we’re the superior team. Every throw in, every battle they win is like a bonus for them,” he said. “We know we’re hunted a little bit, and unfortunately we didn’t get it done in the last two (games).”

Neither team was able to create many scoring opportunities early as Tormenta’s defense was able to shut down the Bantams attack while offensively Tormenta struggled to get anything going.

South Carolina United would eventually break through in the 38th minute when the Bantams were able to work down the left side and then find an open player on a cut back pass who scored to put them ahead 1-0.

Tormenta looked to respond minutes later when Mady Soumare found some space following a pass in from Nikole Solis, but her shot missed just wide to the left.

Shortly into first half stoppage time, a collision near midfield saw Tormenta calling for a foul. The official didn’t call one and South Carolina again broke down the left side before crossing to the middle where they were able to score their second goal and take a 2-0 halftime lead.

“If you looked at my notes board in (the locker room), it’s been the same the past two games. You need to come out fast, you need to come out focused. You need to come out disciplined from the start. You need to win the first half and in the last two games, we’ve been down two nothing at halftime,” Brownlee said.

“I think today there may have been some decisions that went against us. I don’t know if I’m going to get fined by the Referee’s Association, but there were some decisions in the first half that were tough for us. Goal number two, maybe that’s a different story. Going one-nil down at halftime is different then going in down two, that’s for sure.”

Helen Gutierrez, who played on Tormenta’s 2022 title-winning team, said that despite Brownlee’s pregame message, the team didn’t start like they needed to.

“We didn’t start as fast and as focused as we should have. We talked about that after the game. We know what we need to fix,” she said.

She said there were a number of factors that may have contributed to the slow start.

“I don’t know if it was tired legs from our game before (on Friday) or just a mental lapse. Maybe it was we knew that we beat them just a couple of days ago so it was like ‘ok, we know what we need to do’ and mentally we just weren’t there,” she said.

Tormenta changed their formation at halftime, switching to a 4-3-3 in an attempt to find an offensive spark in the second half. The change made a difference in terms of creating more opportunities than in the first half, but Tormenta was never able to find the spark offensively to find the back of the net.

Brownlee said the postgame discussion right after the game was player-led and helped to focus the team as they prepare for a rematch with defending champion North Carolina Courage Wednesday night in Statesboro.

Gutierrez said the discussion focused on each player winning their individual battles, setting the tone and playing more aggressively. She also said the team discussed creating a sense of urgency playing as a team when they pressure the opponents or when they’re attacking.”

She said the team is excited for their rematch with the Courage.

“I think it’s time for us to show what we are here for,” she said. “They’re probably thinking like we were coming into this match. We defeated this team already so we kind of took our foot off the pedal a little bit. I think that’s what their mindset’s going to be. You know, ‘We’re number one. We can take our foot off, but we’re going to come at them hard so they just better be ready.”

Brownlee was equally looking forward to having the defending champions in Statesboro on Wednesday.

“We’re going to be absolutely ready for that and that’s going to be our signature win on the season right there,” he said.

Kickoff for that game is set for Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at Tormenta Stadium