2 Wins in 2 Days for Cameron Road United

On the last weekend of soccer for 2009, Cameron Road scored a double victory. First, on Saturday we gained safe passage into the second round of the Aztec Cup competition by beating the Magdigal Dragons in a 6-3 thrilla. Then on Sunday, by shear force of our awesome pre-game display, Black Star Austin turned tail and ran away; forfeiting the match and giving us three points we desperately needed.

Saturday
Riding the wave of November’s success in the Austin Fall Cup tournament, we had some confidence going into Saturday’s first round of the Aztec Cup. We actually started off the game with a strong team and two subs – a small luxury that we haven’t always had this season. The Dragons weren’t a fire-breathing Premier team, but their over 30 players weren’t exactly Puff stuff either, and they did possess a giant mountain of a man that would have made Cuyler look like Ciro. Starting the game looking to slay the beast early, BT, Ciro and Leif controlled the middle of the midfield, spreading it outside to Vestre, Billy and Andy who tried to get the ball into the center of the pitch for Willis and Chappy.

BT came close with a nasty left-footed volley, but it was Bob, making one of his trademark bursts from the back and rounding the keeper, that got us on the board with the first goal of the game. We were enjoying some quality time in the Dragon’s box, and Billy was the second player to score when he sent in a low, slow-rolling shot to the corner of the net.

I think we went into halftime with a two goal lead – but our relative command of the game would be tested in the second half as the Dragons unleashed their attacking giant on our back line and tried to get back into the game.

Moving daftly for a giant, the beast found himself with some space in the CRU box and unleashed a thunderous volley that went in off the crossbar. At 2-1, the Dragons were back in the game and had us on our back foot a bit. What followed was a 6 goal explosion. As United tried to keep their two goal cushion, the Dragons kept trying to even the score.

First Andy made a nice run down the right hand side and rather than passing it off to his good friend Chappy in the box, he let fly a wicked (or wicked smaaaht if you’re from Boston) shot to beat the keeper to the near post. 3-1 CRU. Minutes later Lurch struck again with a close range header. 3-2 CRU. Next up was Leif, opening up his official Cameron Road goal account with a close range tap-in after some in-the-box madness. 4-2 CRU. Again, the Dragons charged the defense and ended up scoring another goal. 4-3 CRU.

At this point, the Cameron Road defenders decided to take matters into their hands and shut down the Dragons for good, and the Cameron Road offense continued with the goal-scoring onslaught. Andy completed his double with a fine header, and finally Ryan Willis actually had time to think about what body part he wanted to score with from the goal line; he ended up choosing his head, nodding the ball downwards and into the net from 1 inch out.

So the day ended with an offensive explosion and we live to fight another day next Spring in this competition.

Sunday
Now, moving on to Sunday’s league game with Black Star Austin. After exploding for 6 goals less than 24 hours earlier, another full-squad of hungry Cameron Roaders showed up to  hopefully end the season with another victory. We must have been quite an intimidating bunch, what with our five-hour energy drinks, cups of coffee, buckets, a milk crate and a bunch of hung-over stares because those Black Star players that showed up decided they wanted nothing to do with us. The referee informed us that they forfeited the game thus earning us our first three points of the season. Not the way we wanted to get them, but we were glad to have them in the bag.

Instead of hitting the bar for bloody marys, Bob took the lead in organizing a 6 v 6 half-field scrimmage with the offense facing Jay in goal and the defense. It was a great idea and an hour later we were satisfied with our practice and the weekend as a whole.

All in all, it was a great way to finish strong in what has been a difficult season.

Man-of-the-Weekend: Andy Michaelis decided to put in a 2 goal performance on Saturday for his last official game until he finishes the Iron Man in May, and to top it off he rode his bike to Onion Creek for Sunday morning’s game.