McCallie's Ben Brock, shown during a regular-season match against Notre Dame in April, scored to lead the Blue Tornado to a 1-0 win against Father Ryan in a state quarterfinal Saturday.There never was any real sense of panic within the McCallie soccer "brotherhood" Saturday in the TSSAA Division II-AA soccer quarterfinal against Father Ryan, even after a scoreless first half.
Frustration? Yes. The nationally ranked Blue Tornado created several strong scoring chances early but couldn't connect. It took less than five minutes of the second half, however, for the golden foot of Ben Brock to change all that.
His goal, off a nice feed from Stone Roebuck, proved to be the lone score in a 1-0 McCallie win.
The Blue Tornado (14-1-1) will face Christian Brothers in the semifinal round this week in Murfreesboro.
"We created so many dangerous chances, but we just couldn't finish," said McCallie coach Chris Cushenbery, whose team had a 17-4 shot advantage. "It would have been easy to say it just wasn't our day and to get frustrated, but they kept after it.
"It was a gutsy win. We subbed eight guys. Our motto all year is to overwhelm teams with our brotherhood, and we did."
Brock, who had missed on one of the earlier scoring chances, was true from close range after Roebuck's hard charge caught the visitors scrambling in front of the goal.
"When I saw Stone make that really hard run, I knew I had to get to the front post and get a foot on it," said Brock, who has scored in 15 of the team's 16 games this season. "I had missed one earlier, so I knew this was my shot."
The always strong McCallie defense took care of the rest. After getting two shots off in the first half, Father Ryan had just one good look in the second when Evan Vaiksnoras broke free but sailed his strong kick wide left.
The shutout, the Tornado's 10th this season, was made easier by the return of star Jonah Bryan, who had missed the previous seven games with a leg injury. His physical play with and without the ball frustrated the visitors.
"We went a string of 11 games where we gave up just two goals, but when Jonah went out we gave up six goals in seven games, so he makes such a huge difference," Cushenbery said. "We've lost two games in two years, and both came when he couldn't play."
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6296. Follow him on Twitter @youngsports22.