Experts…
They were very confident that SIMA and Tormenta would be the ones to fight for the final and that most likely Tormenta would take the prize. Not even one of the experts thought of us.
The response from our team and coaches was “we will show them,” and that’s exactly what we did.
The Villages SC 1–0 South Georgia Tormenta FC · The Villages SC 2–1 SIMA Aguilas (a.e.t.)
We are Southern Conference Champions.
We went to Erk Russell Park in Statesboro as the wildcard — the only team in the field that had not won its division — and we beat the two best sides in the Southeast to come home with it.
Tormenta first, on Saturday night.
They were hosting the weekend, on their own field, in front of their own crowd, and they had not lost all season. Deep South Division champions, unbeaten.
Felipe Antonio scored in the 34th minute and it stood up through a relentless second-half barrage. Tim McGlynn and the back line did not break. 1–0, and the hosts were out of their own tournament.
Anderson afterwards:
"We knew they were going to come out and press us, but we needed to stay compact and let them come in. They had a lot of crosses, but goalkeeper Tim did a great job keeping the ball out of the net, and the defenders just kept working."
MAN OF THE MATCH - Felipe Antonio
Then SIMA, on Sunday.
SIMA Aguilas won our division. They came into this 11–2–2, having conceded seven goals all season — a total that ranked in the top four in the country. We were the only club to score more than once against them all year, in a 2–0 win in Montverde a month earlier. We had also drawn 0–0 with them a fortnight before that, which meant we went into this having taken the season series.
Our eleven: McGlynn in goal, with Lopes, Ganime, Pereira, Torres, Cabral, Antonio, Maciel, Paiva, De Santos and Gow.
Moussa Gay put SIMA ahead in the 16th minute with a free kick from thirty-five yards that flew past McGlynn. Nothing to be done about it.
We answered four minutes later. Leonardo Paiva, his twelfth of the season, on 20.
1–1 at half time. Nine fouls apiece. Two division rivals who knew each other far too well.
It stayed 1–1 through ninety.
Extra time. Two full fifteens, no golden goal, penalties if nobody scored.
It went to extra time still level.
Alvaro Macias had come on as a substitute having played four minutes the night before. In the fourteenth minute of extra time — the 104th of the match — Paiva found him, and he finished it.
His second goal of the season.
2–1.
MAN OF THE MATCH - Leonardo Paiva - With one goal and one assist during the 2018 Southern Conference Final.
We arrived in Statesboro having won nothing. We leave as Southern Conference Champions, with an 11–2–3 record, on a five-match winning run in which we have outscored opponents 17–1.
SIMA won the division. We took the conference off them, on a neutral field, having knocked out the hosts the night before.
One of our players, straight after the whistle:
"I don't think it's hit me yet, honestly, but I know on the inside I'm bursting. Going from the regular season, we didn't think we were gonna even make it here. Now we'd beat Tormenta, we beat SIMA — both amazing teams. They put up the biggest fight we could ever get, but we pushed through."
And a word about our hosts.
Posted by this club at the end of that weekend:
"We want to thank Tormenta FC for being such incredible hosts. Your kindness and generosity from beginning to end, shown in all aspects. We couldn't have asked for a better host."
We had just knocked them out of their own tournament.
National semifinal next. Reading, Pennsylvania.
