CRU Make Splash – Beat Deep Eddy 3-1.
With Mother Nature offering up a round of thunder poppers on Saturday, it was a pleasant surprise to wake up to the Onion Creek Soccer Sanctuary being open for business today. Fifteen Honey Badgers assembled on field #9 to do battle with the elder statesman of Deep Eddy. It became clear that Deep Eddy’s main strategy was to kick the ball over the goal and make CRU fetch it from the anti-tank trap field of stickers bordering the treeline. Their hope was that the Honey Badgers would get so entangled in the sticker patch that they would be rendered useless. Unfortunately for Deep Eddy, Honey Badger don’t give a shit about no stickers.
Going into a stiff wind to start the first half, Cameron Road took some time to settle into the game. Deep Eddy did have some quality up front, especially with their #3 forward who was tricky to handle. Their combination of booming goal kicks and punts with the wind at their backs and some patient counter attacks proved to be a bit more of a handfull than in weeks past.
Still, it was Cameron Road who showed their patience and skill first. Chris Peterson gathered up a ball just inside his own half and gave it to Chappy inside the center circle. The Captain looked up and saw Willis on the right hand side in acres of space. His pass sent Willis down the touchline, and his follow up run to goal found him in just the right place to sidefoot the return pass past the keeper for goal #1.
But using the aforementioned booming kick and wind technique, Deep Eddy were able to pull one back as a big kick hit the jet stream and floated just past the CRU defense. Their forward just beat the onrushing Jay and they were back in the game.
Not to worry though, as Cameron Road tried to settle back into their game. Gianluca, The Italian Stalion, was back on the pitch, and he and Zoran tried to work some Euro magic in front of the goal. But was Andy Michaelis who rose to the occasion with a fantastic downward header at the back of the goal who gave Cameron Road back the lead that they would not relinquish. Just as he was involved in goal #1, it was Chris Peterson’s cross who found Andy at the back post.
CRU rode out the final minutes of the first half but Deep Eddy were causing them some problems.
With the 2nd half, Cameron Road had the wind at their backs and it proved to be a decisive factor. Deep Eddy barely had a sniff of offensive time on the ball as CRU pummeled them with waves of attacks. Luke’s patented header almost stuck home, and many others enjoyed testing the keeper. Unfortunately for Big Z, his afternoon came to an end with a foot injury. After coming on for the injured Z, Gianluca won a penalty with some nifty work in the box. Unfortunately his effort was saved, but Cameron Road still held onto their lead.
As the half wore on, the best hit of the day came as Danimal plowed into Billy and sent his own teammate to the turf. Luckily for the team, it takes much much more to take down a Scottsman.
Growing slightly frustrated at the lack of goals for their offensive efforts, BT tried sending in several long, deep crosses to try and get behind the defense. But as he did in the first half, Andy was in the right place at the right time to receive Gianluca’s pass and drive it home from close range to finish out the game with his 2nd goal.
Game over. CRU 3 – Deep Eddy 1.
Man-of-the-Match: With 2 goals and a family cheering section in tow, Andy “black socks” Michaelis takes this week’s prize.
Man-of-the-Post-Match: El Jefe! Since Jeff decided to stay at home and rest his injured ankle, everybody remained dry on the sidelines and were able to enjoy their beers and witty commentary in peace.