Tormenta FC wins first USL W League championship

STATESBORO, Ga. (WTOC) - Saturday night South Georgia Tormenta FC won the inaugural USL W League Championship, defeating the Minnesota Aurora 2-1 in extra time. Sunday, they brought the hardware back to Statesboro.

With over 6,000 fans in the stands at Minnesota’s TCO Stadium, Tormenta midfielder Jadia Nyby found the next in the seventh minute to score the first goal of the game against Sarah Fuller. At the end of regulation, the game was tied 1-1.

With around five minutes to go, Nyby shot and scored again, giving Tormenta enough edge and they would hang on for the win.

“We are so lucky and so blessed that we had a team that meshed so well, and I think it kind of all just came down to the fact that I feel like every game we really played for the person who was next to us, and when you’re playing for other people other than yourself, things are going to flow a little bit better,” Nyby said.

Goalkeeper, Sydney Martinez, a Rincon-native, was named MVP of the game.

“It’s been absolutely amazing to see how much that our little town has grown soccer-wise is absolutely amazing. Just to see the amount of fans that we have coming out now days, I remember when I was little and it was just your parents. There was nobody else, and now we have this whole big community. It’s absolutely incredible,” Martinez added.

Tormenta FC was able to close out its season with its first title in club history. In June of 2021, Tormenta was named a founding member of the USL W League, an elite pre-professional pathway for women looking to build their careers both on and off the pitch.

They finished the season 10-1-4 overall.

Now the women will head back to college to play their NCAA seasons, while the USL League 1 men’s season rolls on.

Copyright 2022 WTOC. All rights reserved.