Tormenta Manager Ian Cameron knew Saturday night’s game against AV Alta presented a unique challenge. 

The game was the first in AV Alta’s history and therefore he knew it would come with a different kind of energy than a typical game.

“We knew opening night for a new organization, there’d be big speeches in the locker room, there would be a big emotion and they were going to come out with a lot of heart and a lot of spirit. So we knew the first 20 to 30 minutes was going to be really important to mache the new energy, that new franchise energy,” Cameron said. 

“That’s up on the board (in the locker room), ‘Match the new franchise energy’ and I thought our group managed that piece particularly well tonight,” he said.

Tormenta jumped on the new Antelope Valley, California side early, with rookie Yaniv Bazini scoring his first two professional goals in the first 16 minutes to give South Georgia all they would need in their 2-0 win.

“It feels amazing,” Bazini said. “At the end of the day, this is my job so hopefully I can just continue. I like to produce and I like to help the team.”

Tormenta (1-1-0) jumped out early, pressing AV Alta right from the start. In the sixth minute, they nearly scored when Jonathan Nyandjo got to the end line and cut a ball across to an open Niall Reid-Stephen but he was unable to get his shot on target and the ball sailed over the goal.

Less than a minute later, AV Alta tried to play the ball out of the back, but when the ball was played to goalkeeper Carlos Avilez, Bazini pressured him, stole the ball and scored to put Tormenta ahead 1-0.

“We pressed high and I saw the opportunity that I can go to the keeper. We all communicated with each other that I can go and I went and I put the ball in the back of the net and everybody was celebrating. That’s the best feeling,”

It wouldn’t take long for Bazini to score his second. After receiving a pass near the center of the box, he found Nyandjo on the left who gathered himself and sent a cross back into the box where Bazini was waiting to finish and double Tormenta’s lead.

“Me and John, we talked about it in practice of ‘hey, you just need to cut it, to cross it a few times and I’ll find it one time,” Bazini said. “That’s all we need and thank God we found it and found the back of the net and we can go celebrate all the time.”

While Tormenta was able to press and take control of the opening 25 minutes of the game, AV Alta settled down after that, limiting South Georgia’s chances and maintaining possession for long stretches going forward.

“This performance was about grit and grind and about a group of young men finding a way to celebrate the tackles, to celebrate the defensive rigors and celebrate these moments of adversity where they band together,” Cameron said. 

“I think last week’s performance (a 4-2 loss to Richmond), was a more fluid performance,” he said. “We had clear identity with possession, but this week gave us a sign, gave us hope, gave us an inspiration within the locker room that they can grind things out and they’ve got that gear to them.”

Last week Tormenta maintained possession for nearly 70 percent of the game while Saturday saw that number drop to just 32 percent. Despite that disparity, Tormenta still outshot AV Alta 8-7 and had a 3-2 edge in shots on target.

Tormenta goalkeeper Austin Pack was forced to make a leaping save to deflect a ball off the crossbar midway through the first half but otherwise Tormenta’s defense was able to limit the AV Alta scoring chances.

“We didn’t give up much other than Austin’s save in the first half. I don’t think we gave up many chances. We gave up possession, but not many chances. So that was good,” he said.

Saturday’s captain Gabriel Cabral said the effort of the team was the difference in Tormenta’s win.

“It wasn’t the prettiest. It wasn’t the cleanest in terms of a football performance,” he said. “It was an amazing performance in terms of team effort and everyone just left everything out there.” 

Tormenta returns to action Thursday as they host Harbor City FC in the opening round of the US Open Cup. South Georgia has had success in recent years in the tournament, defeating USL Championship sides Charleston and Birmingham in 2022, Rio Grande Valley in 2023 and Miami FC in 2024.

Tormenta fell 3-2 to Charleston last year in the Round of 32. 

“One of the reasons we’ve done well in the Open Cup is the owners have always put in bids for us to play at home,” Cameron said. “It’s just survive and advance in the first few rounds.” 

“We’ve got a really talented club from Florida coming in Thursday night who beat Club America, who we played last year and are pretty good and gave us a really tight challenge,” Cameron said. “So we just focus on Thursday, see what we can get out of the game, recover and then prepare for the next one.”

Kickoff for that match is Thursday at 7 p.m. at Tormenta Stadium.