South Georgia Tormenta capitalized on just enough of their opportunities Saturday night as they were able to come away with another key 3-1 win over the Carolina Ascent in USL-W League action.

Tormenta didn’t waste any time in jumping out early, scoring in just the third minute as a cross from the right came directly across the mouth of the goal where Nikole Solis was waiting. She tucked it in the back of the net to give South Georgia the early lead.

“It was a good cross from (Dube) Flavie to the back post and then just a one time finish,” she said of her goal.

“I think today we were just hoping to be more critical in the finishing area and I think we did that. We created more chances and created more finishes and we didn’t give the ball away as much, which was better,” Solis said.

Tormenta would look to double their lead in the 26th minute as Emma Tucker stepped up to take a corner kick from the left side.

Her cross into the box curled over the Ascent goalkeepers hands and into the back of the net for an Olimpico and extending the Tormenta lead to 2-0.

“I think my team was in the right place at the right time and it caused some chaos and I was able to find the back of the net,” she said of her goal.

Tucker was a bit cagey on whether it was supposed to be a shot or a cross.

“Let’s go with I was shooting the ball,” she said with a laugh.

Tormenta nearly scored twice more in the first half, with two shots hitting off the post and deflecting wide in the 10 minutes following Tucker’s goal.

Carolina would strike just before halftime with a long range blast over the outstretched hands of Tormenta goalkeeper Cora Brendle to trim the lead to 2-1.

“I think we understand that mistakes are going to happen and it’s how we react to it,” Tucker said. “ I think that we didn’t stop for one minute. We kept going at them and I think that’s were we found our success.”

In the second half, Tormenta would see another shot take an unfortunate bounce, this time off the crossbar when their shot hit metal and bounced over.

Tormenta would seal the win in the 86th minute when Chinatsu Kiao was able to draw a foul in the penalty area, setting up Lina Lopez Jamie to bury her shot to the lower left corner and give South Georgia a 3-1 lead that they would hold on to until the final whistle.

“You just have to be calm in that moment,” she said, saying penalty kicks are more mental than anything else. 

Tormenta Manager Kian Brownlee is encouraged by what he saw from his team Saturday night.

“We still feel like we’re missing out on some chances and still feel like we could be scoring more than we are, but the mentality has improved so much from day one just to be creating those chances, Brownlee said. “The chances are getting a little bit closer and our performance is becoming a little more dominant.”

“I thought tonight was probably their best performance of the season in terms of the dominance and playing on the front foot and playing in the opponent’s half and around the final third. I loved it.” 

The win sets up a huge clash on Tuesday with South Carolina United, who currently sit at nine points through three games, tied with the North Carolina Courage in averaging three points per match. Tormenta is currently just behind them with 10 points in five matches, good for a two points per game average.

Saturday was the first of five games in 11 days for Tormenta. In addition to traveling to South Carolina on Tuesday, Tormenta hosts Charlotte Eagles on Friday, a rematch with the SC United on Sunday and then face defending champion NC Courage the following Wednesday.

“The biggest piece of that is making sure that you get points in those games, but in order to do that when you get that and get that many games in that few days, it’s going to be active recovery all the time and then load management,” Brownlee said. “We’ve got a great setup here, (Tormenta co-owners) Darin and Netra (Van Tassell) are giving us the best resources possible in terms of training staff and the support staff we have with the assistant coaches.”

Solis said rest and recovery were going to be critical, but also taking advantage of the times they do practice between games will be important as well.

“We need to take advantage of our off days, recovering and doing whatever we need to do individually both physically and mentally. And then being ready each day and pushing each other every time we practice and having a high standard,” she said. 

Brownlee said there will also have to be some squad rotation with players maybe playing fewer minutes than usual in some games to be ready for future games. He’s confident his players will be up to the challenge.

“We didn’t bring anyone here not to play. So the players that haven’t played as many minutes are going to be getting more minutes in these next games. They’ll do it, they’ll get it done,” he said.