For the second straight year, South Georgia Tormenta FC, a member of soccer’s Premier Development League, will be playing a game in Savannah.
Last year Tormenta FC, based in Statesboro, played the Charleston Battery in an exhibition game at Daffin Park.
The team was so well received by Savannah soccer fans that Tormenta president Dr. Darin Van Tassell made the decision he wanted to make playing a game in Savannah an annual affair.
Van Tassell and Calvary Day School Head of School James Taylor in a press conference Thursday afternoon at the Calvary Specialty Sports Complex announced Tormenta FC would play a regular-season game at Calvary on June 27.
Tormenta opens its season on May 12 at Peachtree City MOBA, and its schedule has it playing SC United Bantam at 8 p.m. June 27.
Tickets for the game are $10 and may be purchased at the team’s website and at the gate. There will also be a VIP section with those tickets priced at $35.
Tormenta FC played its first season in 2016, and next season it will be a founding member of the USL’s Pro Soccer Division 3 League. It is similar to playing at the Triple A level in baseball.
The PDL is the developmental league in North American soccer’s tiered structure of leagues and features 74 teams with four conferences in the United States and Canada that provide elite collegiate players the opportunity to play at a higher level of competition while maintaining their eligibility.
The game gives both Calvary Day and Tormenta what they were seeking. Calvary is looking to utilize its renovated stadium which features a new artificial all-weather surface and new scoreboard. Tormenta was wanting to play a game in Savannah in a stadium capable of hosting what it hopes will be a crowd upwards of 4,000.
“We began working with Tormenta and having initial conversations about bringing one of their games here,” Taylor said. “They’re doing some phenomenal things in the world of soccer.
“We’re very committed to soccer here as a school – our girls are going on to their next round of states (Elite Eight) this week — and we look at this relationship as an opportunity to further our involvement in the world of soccer.”
For Van Tassell, the opportunity to play a game at Calvary was a no-brainer.
“For us to have a professional soccer organization in South Georgia the City of Savannah, the City of Statesboro and the Coastal Empire are where the fans are,” Van Tassell said. “We want to have a presence in Savannah, a full-time presence if you will.
“As a franchise we are committed to playing at least one game a year here every year,” Van Tassell said. “When the folks at Calvary reached out to us and asked if we would be playing at their facility and told us they were putting in a new field we were definitely interested.
“This is a beautiful facility, and we’re looking forward to partnering with them. They’re wonderful people, and they’ve got a lot of interest in soccer.”
Van Tassell is no neophyte when it comes to sports. He played baseball at Georgia Southern University (1985-1989) and was an assistant coach for the Eagle 1994-1999 under Jack Stallings. He is a member of the GSU Sports Hall of Fame.
Van Tassell, who is a professor of International Studies at GSU, has been involved in international sports for 25 years, primarily in baseball. He was the coach of the Nicarauga team at the 1996 Olympic team in Atlanta, was a Technical Commissioner for the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) in the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece, and was the Competition Director for the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
There were the skeptics who questioned him when he announced he was bringing soccer to Statesboro. So far it has proved to be a big hit. Playing at Georgia Southern’s facility Tormenta has averaged 2,000 fans per game.
This summer Tormenta will break ground on a soccer specific stadium that will seat 5,000 and be ready for when the team begins its first season at the professional level next year.
“I cut my teeth on baseball,” Van Tassell said, “but FIFA is the largest sports organization in the world. I was of the belief that this part of the state was ready to have a professional soccer team so we started off at the PDL level, and now we’re able to move to the USL starting in 2019.
“There’s a massive amount of support for soccer in this region. Soccer is the most popular sport in the world.”
