Baylor’s Eemeli Pokela scores their only goal.
photo by M. A. Locke
When his team needed him the most, McCallie senior Drew Viscomi did what he does best.
Two minutes after the Blue Tornado allowed an equalizer to rival Baylor in the Division II Mid-East Region soccer match on the Red Raiders’ home field, Viscomi’s strike put his team back on top.
Five minutes later, the All-American and school single-season scoring leader struck again for an insurance goal in McCallie’s 3-1 region win.
“That was just Drew exerting his will on the game,” McCallie coach Chris Cushenbery said.
“That’s what an All-American does -- score two goals late in a big region rivalry game.
“It was great to get that second goal to close it out. I felt like we did a good job in the last 10 minutes of putting it away. That was huge to give us some breathing room. I know it let me breathe a little more deeply.”
Both teams started play with a high pace before settling in about midway through the first half. Around the 25-minute mark, McCallie got on the board with a free kick that Viscomi played in to Noah Tremain, who finished it to the back post.
The foul that led to the restart was one of two mistakes that Baylor coach Curtis Blair said made the difference in the outcome for his team.
“I thought we played great,” Blair said. “This was the first time all season that I feel like we’ve played a full 80 minutes. We made two mistakes, and they capitalized on them. On their first goal, we fouled, which we had talked about not doing, and on the second, we just had a bad clearance. Those are things that are fixable.”
Baylor came out with several scoring opportunities throughout the first 25 minutes of the second half, and finally finished one with 17:33 left to play. Eemeli Makela’s shot to the corner evened the score, but the Blue Tornado responded quickly.
“We sort of sat on a lead and got in between playing possession and playing direct,” Cushenbery said. “We were in that in between phase, and got a little tight. They battled hard, and it was a nice goal by Eemeli. They were pressing and got that goal, but I’m really proud of how we responded.”
About three minutes after Viscomi’s first goal made it 2-1, play was halted as trainers tended to Baylor senior captain Sam Joyner, who left the field on a cart and was taken for X-rays of his injured leg. Blair said his loss had an emotional impact on the Red Raiders, in addition to the adjustments they had to make from losing their starting center back.
“Our motto all year long has been family,” Blair said. “We’ve not only preached that, but we try to show it by example. When something like that happens, all of a sudden you’re not really thinking about a game; you’re thinking about a family member. From that point on, I think it really changed the momentum of the game.”
With 10:03 left to play, Viscomi broke free for the goal that made it 3-1 and gives his team a 7-1-4 overall record. The Blue Tornado, ranked No. 1 in the state for D-II-AA and No. 6 nationally, has two key region games next week that will help determine postseason positions for the Mid-East teams.
The Blue Tornado will travel to Brentwood Academy on Thursday and host Pope John Paul on Saturday after a game Tuesday against Boyd-Buchanan. Meanwhile, Baylor (10-3-2) will host Chattanooga Christian on Tuesday before it plays a key region match at Father Ryan on Friday with hopes of earning a postseason rematch with the Blue Tornado.
“I’m proud of our guys for two reasons,” Blair said. “One, they showed great character. Two, they worked extremely hard. When you have those two things, good things are going to happen for you. I told them that we’re still a family and we’re still moving on.”
(E-mail Jaime Barrett at jaimenbarrett@gmail.com)