Peach State Soccer Recap: Preseason underway for Georgia's lower-division clubs

Atlanta Silverbacks

The Silverbacks hosted local amateurs Gladiadores on Saturday as part of their Meet the Team event at Silverbacks Park. The back and forth match ended 2-2. Gladiadores took a 1-0 lead into halftime, and then went up 2-1 midway through the second half before the Silverbacks found an equalizer.

Dave Williamson Photography

Shaka Bangura of the Silverbacks vs. Gladiadores on April 30

The Silverbacks have not made any official player announcements yet, but two players who featured in the friendly are former pros Mitch Garcia and Shaka Bangura. Garcia played last season with the reserve team in the NPSL while Bangura scored four times for the pro team in 2014-15.

NEXT: Lamar Hunt US Open Cup 1st Round match at Reading United (PDL) on May 11

Georgia Revolution

The Revolution have played twice so far in 2016. They defeated local amateur team Sandy Springs FC 2-0 on April 23 and defeated new PDL team Peachtree City MOBA 2-1 last night.

Sandy Springs kept the April 23rd match scoreless in the first half before the experienced Revolution began to take control. Goals by Marcelle Francois and Ibrahim Faye in the second half provided the winning margin.

@GA_Revolution

The match with MOBA was originally scheduled for April 30th, but nasty storms ended up postponing the match. When the storms hit, the Revolution had run out to a 2-0 lead. In the replay last night, it was MOBA who scored first. Revolution veteran Scott Redding equalized before halftime. Adam McCabe scored in the second half to give the Revolution the win over their southside rivals.

The Revolution have also been busy making player signings. Sajaad Delane (formerly of the Silverbacks Reserves), Clinton Lothrop (Faulkner University), Luke Connor (Young Harris College), Ibrahim Faye (Hamitköy SK of Northern Cyprus), Guilveli Coj Perez (U20 Club Deportivo Suchitepéquez of Guatemala), Sebastian Jones (Emmanuel College), and Marcelle Francois (Central FC of Trinidad & Tobago) are new to the club in 2016. Scott Redding, Kofi Yankey, Carlos Mendoza, Marc-Wayne Sinclair, and Jalani Landburg are returning from last season. Yankey is newly promoted from the Revolution's reserve team.

NEXT: Home match with the Birmingham Hammers (NPSL) on Saturday, May 7 at 7:00pm

Peachtree City MOBA

MOBA lost their first preseason match of the season 2-1 in Conyers last night against the Georgia Revolution. MOBA took a 1-0 lead in the first half, but gave up two unanswered goals to drop the match.

The first year club has been announcing player signings over the past week. Taku Mashingaidze (Georgia Military College), Jairo Ruiz (Tyler Junior College and Coweta Cannons youth), Adam Reakes (Chattanooga FC, Knoxville Force, Clayton State University), Jack Coulton (Knoxville Force), Luke Oesterle (Georgia State University, Southern Soccer Academy), Bryson Asher (Duke University), Salomon Lorenzano (Georgia Revolution), Nick Spielman (Lincoln Memorial University), and Casey Shultis (Georgia State University) have all been signed so far. The highest profile signing is former pro defender Omar Jarun (Atlanta Silverbacks, Vancouver Whitecaps, Ottawa Fury).

Georgia Revolution

NEXT: PDL opener at Mississippi Brilla in Clinton, MS on May 14

South Georgia Tormenta FC

Head Coach and General Manager Ben Freakley's first year squad is starting to take shape in Statesboro. You can check out their posted roster here. Standouts include Casey Osborne (Atlanta Silverbacks Reserves, St. John's University),  Ayao Sossou (Rochester Rhinos, Virginia Military Institute), and Rashid Alarape (Georgia State University).

TormentaFC

NEXT:  PDL opener at Tri-Cities Otters in Johnson City, TN on May 13