Jim Robbins had a few goals set out for his Tormenta USLW team going into Tuesday night’s matchup with the South Carolina Bantams. 

He wanted his team to get an early goal. He wanted to see them get three or four goals in the first half and he wanted his team to add a couple more in the second half.

Tormenta nearly completed all of those as they scored in the first 95 seconds of the match and led by four at halftime en route to a 5-0 win at Tormenta Stadium.

“That was as comprehensive as we’ve played all year,” Robbins said following the match. “It was fun to watch and I’m sure they had a good time playing that way.”

Tormenta came out fast as early in the game South Georgia’s Smith Cathey was able to get open along the right side near the top of the box. Her shot was deflected, but Courtney Chochol was waiting for the rebound to give Tormenta the 1-0 on her third of the season, which tied her for the team lead.

“It just fell to my foot and I was like ‘this is the easiest goal I’m ever going to score,” she said.

Chochol didn’t stay tied for the team lead in goals for long as Elis Nemtsov scored her fourth of the year following an assist from Momo Nakao in the 19th minute to double the Tormenta lead to 2-0.

Nemtsov would get her fifth of the season in the 32nd minute when she perfectly volleyed a cross from Melanie Mikoy past the Bantams’ goalkeeper for her second of the night and putting Tormenta ahead 3-0.

She was quick to credit her teammates for setting her up to score.

“If it weren’t for the assists there wouldn’t have been the goals,” she said. “Just being in the right place at the right time and the second finish was really nice,” she said.

South Carolina struggled to create opportunities as the Tormenta defense closed down passing lanes and played stifling defense throughout the night. 

The Bantams’ came closest to scoring in the 34th minute on an errant pass from a defender back to goalkeeper Jenna Moran that forced Moran to scramble and make a sliding save to clear the ball from going into the back of the net for a South Carolina corner kick. Tormenta was able to clear the ball from danger.

Minutes into stoppage time in the first half, Chochol would add her second of the night off a pass from Nakao that was chipped over the defenders. Chochol’s shot snuck in just under the crossbar to extend the Tormenta lead to 5-0.

“Momo played a great ball in behind and I took it off the chest and just hit it as hard as I could,” Chochol said of her second goal.

Early in the second half, striker Ashley Henderson nearly made it 5-0 with a shot that glanced off the left post and deflected away from danger. 

However, midway through the half, Tormenta would find their fifth goal as Smith Cathey received a pass 30 yards from goal, turned upfield and from 22 yards out unleashed a strike that deflected off a Bantams’ defender and past the goalkeeper to cap off the scoring for Tormenta on the night.

With the win, Tormenta moves to 4-1-2 on the season with 14 points in the standings. Only the top team from each division advances to the playoffs and with North Carolina Courage sitting undefeated atop the South Atlantic division, Tormenta will need some help to catch them.

If North Carolina finishes atop the division, Tormenta could still make the playoffs if they are the team with the most points among the three divisions in the Eastern Conference.

“Our job is to accumulate as many points as we can in the next five games,” Robbins said. “Our first year we had 24 points, the next year we had 21. We obviously got in the first year and didn’t last year and this year we have a chance to get to 29 points.”

Tormenta went on to win the title in 2022 after making the playoffs.

“So if we do that and that’s the most points we’ve accumulated since I’ve been here, we just have to hope that gets you in,” he said. “We’re going to need a little bit of help, but all we can do is worry about us. Let’s go out and control the controllables. Let’s fight to get to 29 points and see what happens.”

After playing Saturday to a 1-1 draw against the Carolina Ascent and Tuesday’s match, Tormenta will have a quick turnaround as they play tonight against the Charlotte Eagles in North Carolina. 

“A couple of the players that didn’t start this game or weren’t rostered for this game, those are the ones we’re going to call on. We’ve got some great players who are going to get to play. It’s going to be fun, and that’s why we built our roster like we do because every so often you get stuck in these situations,” Robbins said.

Kickoff tonight is set for 7 p.m. in Charlotte. Tormenta’s next home match will be Wednesday as they play the second of a home-and-home series with Charlotte with that game slated to start at 7:30 p.m.