Storm National League Teams

26

USYS NL SEASON

National League

“We have been building our National League Program year after year, so to see 4 of our teams qualify for this season shows the growth the club has had in its short history.” -Coach Sasan

ForOR the 2021 USYS National League (NL) Piedmont Conference Fall Season, Storm had 4 teams that had qualified for this elite competition. Our 08B Premier, 06B Premier, 04B Premier, and 04G Premier all qualified based on their 2020-21 season finishes, including the Piedmont Conference League Winner medal that the 06B captured. The season began on Saturday, August 21 at North Mt. Carmel Park with the 08B Premier playing Highland FC and the 06B Premier playing Augusta SC who had finished 2nd last year as the 04G Premier and 04B Premier would open their seasons at the beginning of September.

Opening Weekend

In the first match of the day, the 08B Premier team played Highland FC team that had tremendous quality in their midfield, giving the boys a quick understanding of the level increase between Georgia Premier League (GPL) and NL. For the second match of the day, the 06B Premier team were facing a common opponent that knows our team well. Last year, they had pushed all the way to finish 2nd place, so they were looking for a bit of revenge in the first match, hoping to catch our team off-guard. In the opening minutes, Augusta hit the post and targeted Storm’s goal several times but goalkeeper Jon Smith as well as center back’s Diego Guillen and Nyckolas Waits stook up to the challenge as the team played into the match. As the match wore on, Storm started to take control, but ultimately were not successful in finding the winner, resulting in a 0-0 to start the season. Facing that diversity from an opening match loss, the 08B rebounded to a great performance on Sunday losing 1-0 to the eventual league winner in Savannah United, but they showed with the performance

that points in the league table were not too far off for the group. After being surprised slightly by the pace of the August SC team on Saturday, the 06B found their attacking groove on Sunday, putting in an excellent attacking performance that saw them score 4 goals, which could have been even more.

Labor Day Weekend Battles With Labor Day weekend ahead, both Storm’s 04G Premier and 04B Premier teams were traveling to Greenville, South Carolina to play at MESA Soccer Complex with the girls and boys playing 3 matches each. In the opening weekend the 04G Premier team was out to attack and attack while scoring 10 goals with Mary House and Cameryn Morris leading the line, coming out of the weekend with 2 points in their first NL season. They lost to the league finalist Piedmont Triad 4-3, followed by two high scoring draws with

game of the weekend 2-1. After a few weeks of training, they returned to Wilson, North Carolina with two great performances as they defeated Wake FC Blue by a score of 1-0 as well as thrashing Wake FC North Gold 5-2 with the attackers running riot once again. The followed their unbeaten run with a draw against United FC from Georgia with the attack shining again, scoring 3 goals in a 3-3 draw. With a difficult run of matches on the weekend, the team traveled to Rock Hill, South Carolina to play Charleston SC and SC United FC where they came away with a point, going with a loss and a draw on the weekend. The final weekend of the season saw the team earn a 1-1 draw with Carolina FC and a 0-2 loss to CESA Pachuca to finish out the season in 8th place with 12 points.

06 Boys After a tough opening weekend, Storm’s

04 Girls QAfter the high scoring and all-out attack of the first weekend, Storm’s 04G Premier worked hard through September as they traveled to Rock Hill to play Carolina FC

06B Premier were out to show the league why they had won the league the previous 2 years in Greenville on Labor Day weekend. That weekend saw them go 2-0, scoring 6 goals and conceding 0 with wins over NCFC South Gold (3-0) and Wake FC Blue (3-0). After a few weeks of intense training to push for attacking and attacking, the boys continued their win-streak, stretching it into an 8-match winning run while scoring 22 goals and only conceding 1. In this time, they beat Inter Atlanta (2-0), GA Alliance (3-0), Highland FC (1-0), Wake North Gold (5-1), CESA Pachuca (2-0), and Carolina FC (3-0). During this run, Isaac Cruz and Wyatt Mathis-Kline were clinical creating or scoring most of the goals with a few set-play goals to show the strength of the team. As of the writing of this article, 06B Premier has 1 match remaining with MOBA, and as long as Storm stays within 6 goals in a loss, they will win the league for the 3rd year running. The 06B Premier had qualified from the 20-21 season for USYS National League Pro where one of their opponents was the Highland FC team, so the NL Piedmont Conference match counted for both, with Storm currently sitting in first place in USYS NL Pro Group B ahead of their December event.

After the opening weekend, Storm’s 04B prepared themselves for their upcoming trip to Wilson, North Carolina to play Highland FC and TUSA Blue where they played very well in beating Highland 2-0 on Saturday before a

06B | National League P.R.O.

sluggish match against TUSA, losing 1-3 to the team that would win the league this season. Back in Georgia for a home match with a frequent rival in MOBA, 04B Premier played a terrific match and were very unlucky to draw MOBA 1-1. They led from the front foot from the off, with a great team goal after a nice buildup Blake Underwood clipped a ball through to Malachi Rafiq who smashed the ball into the far corner for Storm’s goal. To end the season, 04B Premier played at North Mt. Carmel Park against Atlanta City and Augusta SC where they went 1-1 with a 1-3 loss to Atlanta City followed by a 3-1 win over Augusta SC. For most of the team, they will be graduating this year and pursuing their soccer and life goals, but they closed out a 4-year run of competing in National League Piedmont Conference, which is a tremendous effort from all of the squad and Coach Bill Rucker (III)

.

04 Girls

After the high scoring and all-out attack of the first weekend, Storm’s 04G Premier worked hard through September as they traveled to Rock Hill to play Carolina FC and Lexington SA, coming away with a win over Carolina FC 2-1 and a tough loss to the league winners of Lexington SA 0-5. Heading into the final weekend, the girls needed to come away with 6 points to have a chance at a third-place finish in the league in their first season. With this goal in mind, the girls were full speed ahead into October 16 where they smashed local rival MOBA 6-1. From the kickoff, the team never looked back as they attacked for the full 90 minutes. With a difficult one ahead against Impact SC, the girls stayed focused as they continued to go forward and score goals, closing this match our 4-2, ending the season with 22 goals scored in 7 matches, averaging a little over 3 goals per match. With some of the girls moving on to their college careers and others returning for one more season with Storm, Coach Caryn Scheufler and the 04G Premier can be proud of their achievement in the first NL season for a girls team at Georgia Storm.

National League P.R.O.

After a strong finish to the NL Piedmont Conference season, Coach Sasan Lak and the 06B Premier headed south to Orlando for the opening weekend of USYS NL Pro as group B leaders with 3 top-class opponents in Dix Hills (NY), CUP (OH), and Brentwood SC (NY). On Friday, December 3 the team played Brentwood SC at Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex with a strong 3-0 winning performance. On Saturday, they played NL Pro powerhouse Dix Hills from New York, giving a valiant effort but losing 4-1. On the third day, CUP from Cininnati, Ohio started the match well, leading 2-0 at halftime. Looking for a response, Storm started the half brightly with two quick goals to draw level, but as legs grew heavy from the weekend, CUP was able to score the winner with a few minutes left. Currently, sitting in 5th place, Storm will seek a 2nd place finish to qualify for the USYS National Tournament later in July when they travel to Lakewood Ranch in Florida the weekend of February 5 to play Kings Hammer (KY), KC Athletics Academy (KS), and LFA Goddard (MO) where they are looking for 9 points.

The Future After the best season in National League Piedmont Conference to date with Georgia Storm, Technical Director Sasan Lak added, “We have been building our National League Program year after year, so to see 4 of our teams qualify for this season shows the growth the club has had in its short history. Our 06B may lead the way with our 3rd consecutive title, but all of our teams are performing and showing what the club is about.”