In his final regular-season matchup against Baylor, senior Drew Viscomi made his presence known in leading McCallie to a 3-1 soccer road win Friday. Viscomi had a hand in all three goals for the Blue Tornado.
"That's what you want your big players to do," McCallie coach Chris Cushenbery said. "They make big plays in big games, and that's what Drew did. He started off a little quiet, and they did a good job defending him, but he found a way. That's exactly what we want out of him."
The two rivals wrestled for momentum early in the Division II-AA East-Middle game, as the first shot didn't come until around the midpoint of the first half on a McCallie header off a corner kick. Viscomi then sent a laser toward the goal but right at the goalkeeper.
With 12:10 to play, the Blue Tornado (7-1-4, 2-0-2) were awarded a free kick, and Viscomi sent a looping pass over the defense. Noah Tremain leaped up to get a head on it and flicked it into back of the net for a 1-0 lead.
"The intensity is so high, I think everyone just wants to make a play," Cushenbery said. "That goal really helped to settle us. We started to find some seams and possess the ball."
McCallie held the one-goal advantage into halftime, and Baylor (10-3-2, 1-2-1) fought back after the break. After a free kick sailed high, it took a stellar effort from McCallie keeper Emerson Brock to keep the home side off the board.
Brock punched a free kick out and had to dive quickly to his right to save a long shot off the rebound. Baylor would not be kept out much longer, getting its equalizer on another free kick.
Keegan Weekly took the kick, and Eemeli Makela's impressive, precise volley evened the score.
"We know we're dangerous on set pieces," Baylor coach Curtis Blair said. "(Eemeli) did a great job getting on the end of it."
The goal delighted an overflowing Baylor student section, which looked to help keep momentum on the Red Raiders' side.
Viscomi, however had other plans, quieting the crowd with his second goal - a rocket after a failed clearance.
"We didn't really keep it going from the first half, getting stuck on our end with some fouls, but I'm proud of how our guys fought back," Cushenbery said. "It would have been easy to put that shot off frame, but it was a great, low strike."
Coming back once before, Baylor pressed forward looking for another goal, but a sudden injury on the sideline seemed to knock the Red Raiders off their game as senior Sam Joyner was carted off.
"It completely changed the momentum of the game," Blair said. "One of our mantras is 'family,' so when you see a family member get hurt, you kind of go from worrying about the game to worrying about his health."
Shortly after the stoppage, Viscomi controlled the ball at midfield and raced past defenders to put the game away.
Contact Idris Garcia at sports@timesfreepress.com