Despite his SBA opponent having a handful of his jersey, McCallie mid-fielder/forward Drew Viscomi (19) advances the ball against the Eagles in their D-II/AA quarterfinal match. Viscomi ended up scoring the Blue Tornado's third and decisive goal in their 3-2 win. McCallie will face Montgomery Bell Academy next Wednesday in state semi-final action.
photo by Dennis Norwood
With its season on the line, the McCallie soccer team didn’t turn in its best performance in a Saturday morning Division II Class AA quarterfinal match against St. Benedict.
Luckily for the Blue Tornado, that didn’t prevent them from still ending up right where they wanted to be.
McCallie held on for a 3-2 victory that earned a spot for coach Chris Cushenbery’s undefeated team in the state final four next week in Murfreesboro.
“I don’t really get the sense that the pressure is getting to them, but maybe when you haven’t been in this situation before, and it’s the first time you face an elimination game, maybe that’s why we were off today,” he said. “We just weren’t tidy. Everybody was just a little bit off.”
The Blue Tornado came out with pressure early, and it paid off five minutes into the match when David Bowman finished a ball from Wesley Brown. After several more near-misses, including one shot off the frame, Bowman gave the Blue Tornado a 2-0 lead when he scored with 14:31 left in the first period.
St. Benedict, however, cut its deficit in half with 2:35 remaining when Luke Parker connected on a penalty kick after a foul was called on a tackle that appeared to be just outside the box.
“We weren’t thriving; we were surviving,” Cushenbery said. “I feel like we’ve been a good possession team this year, but today we played a little too direct. We had a bunch of good chances early, and it was nice to get on the board, but I didn’t think we played our game.”
The McCallie defense withstood some early pressure from St. Benedict in the second half, and in the 55th minute, Drew Viscomi fired in a ball from Marshall Martin to give the Blue Tornado a 3-1 advantage.
The two-goal lead didn’t last long, though, as SBA was awarded another PK after McCallie was called for a handball in the box, and Parker again made the kick with 17:32 remaining.
“It was nice to get those two, two-goal leads,” Cushenbery said. “We weren’t our best today, but I’m proud of our back four for limiting their chances. We’ve given up a lot of penalties this year, but the last time our starting keeper gave up a goal in the run of play was March 21st.”
Despite a few scary moments, the McCallie defense held on to preserve the 3-2 lead and the state berth for the Blue Tornado. And although he couldn’t pinpoint exactly why his team struggled at times on Saturday, Cushenbery and his players know all their goals for the season are still in front of them.
“We’re 16-0-1, and we still have a chance to do something special,” Cushenbery said. “Hopefully we can have a couple good practices this week and be better on Wednesday.”
(E-mail Jaime Barrett at jaimenbarrett@gmail.com)
McCallie's Wes Brown (3) dribbles against an SBA defender. Brown provided the assist on David Bowman's first of two goals in the first period of play.
photo by Dennis Norwood