CRU Takes 3rd Place in the Austin Fall Cup
For those who missed it, we had a great run in the Second Annual Austin Fall Cup tournament this past weekend, finishing in third place and narrowly missing a place in the finals with a 0-1 defeat in the semi’s. It was a tough loss, especially since we were sizzling and playing some really good, aggressive stuff to win our our first three games. Oh well, a great time was had by everyone (well, almost everyone as Dermot suffered some cracked ribs in game #3 and will be out for up to six weeks… heal up buddy), and hopefully it will propel us into the Spring Season with some confidence.
We had some new faces in the squad this weekend. Our long-lost speedy striker Jared returned and get’s a gold star for his dedication to making the trip from Oklahoma. His car broke down 50 miles into his Friday night’s journey, so he jumped on a plane at 4:00am Saturday morning to get here for the first game. Bob brought his usual bunch of Cajun power with brothers Hutch and David and Mr. Enthusiasm, Pat. And also making his competitive comeback was Mike Lepine. Thanks to everyone who traveled to be a part of this weekend’s fun.
Game #1 was against our old Div 2 nemesis, Struggle FC. It was a typical D2 slugfest, but after going down a goal, it was up to Ryan Willis to get us the win with his 2-goal performance. Two scrappy inside the box goals sent us into game 2 with a win.
After a few hours of rest and grilled meats, we faced The Goal Diggers, a team from Houston, in our second match. Luke got an early header and then made a great run down the center of the field and drove home another with a nice curling shot from 18 yards for our second win of the day. Jay and the defense pitched a shutout, so we left the field on Saturday with two wins out of two games and feeling pretty good.
On a chilly, rainy, sore and stiff Sunday morning, everyone made it out for our third game against a young, Hispanic team from Tomball. Let’s just say that they paid for their poor sportsmanship and although they were probably the best team we faced, they paid the price for being cocky and got thumped 3-1. This was our tournament masterpiece, as we all played very physically and gave maximum effort. Andy showed up on a few hours of sleep, fresh from his trip to Thailand, so that was a great bonus and some fresh legs… especially when Dermot went down with a nasty forearm to the ribs sideline collision that sent him to the hospital coughing up blood.
This game started off nicely for me when Billy floated up a perfect free kick into the box and I got a head on it for a 1-0 lead. A few minutes later I latched onto a ball in the box and was chopped down from behind. Jared slamed home the penalty and we were cruising to a 2-0 halftime score. The kids didn’t know what hit’em. Luke added a third after a long-range throw in from Pat and we finished them off 3-1.
Unfortunately, we may have peeked too soon because we ended up losing the semi-final to a bunch of “older dudes” 0-1. Jared came close with a screamer just off the post, and we were all a little bent out of shape when the ref stopped the game while our last ditch effort cross was in the air… not sure how he managed to come up with that call.
Anyway, while failing to get into the finals and take home first place, we can all be proud of three straight wins and a loss by one goal. Thanks to everyone who made it out there this past weekend, and for those of you who missed it, we hope to see you there next year.
