CRU 1 – Black Star Austin 0
Cameron Road United defeated Black Star Austin in dramatic fashion on Sunday. The defense continued to shine, pitching a shutout at one end and scoring the winner at the other.
There was a good vibe in the air before the game, with three subs available, and a timely appearance from Pat (who arrived by black helicopter from Houston minutes before the game) Cameron Road would field a strong team for this week’s installment of Thunderdome.
The game started off nicely for the guys in red with some controlling play and possession. Leif and BT were able to send in some balls to the forward lines, while Ciro, Billy and Luke opened up the flanks. Arriving a little late from his first game of the morning, Scott joined the midfield madness and added his pitbull tenacity and ball winning skillz to the mix.
At the back, Big John was a towering presence all day long. He headed away at least 15 balls to safety like he was Bernie Kosar directing laser beams to Webster Slaughter. Along his side, Bob patrolled the box and made his darting runs forward. On the edges, it was great to have Pat back in the lineup, his skill on the ball and constant enthusiasm are always a big plus. And on the opposite side, Steven Crosley was his usual, reliable self.
First half highlights included several fantastic saves by Jay, a goal-line clearance by Bob, and a couple last minute blasts at goal by Chris Vestre – one of them scraped the crossbar (and if his knee brace hadn’t been flapping in the breeze, he might have scored).
Cameron Road started the second half full of confidence and were pressing for the opening goal. Leif and Ciro were causing problems down the left flank, while Billy was doing the same down the right. With BT nursing an injury on the sidelines, Scott took up the slack in the middle of the pitch and seemed to have the ball on a string for big chunks of time.
As Cameron Road advanced with a group attack, Billy found himself with the ball near the touch line deep in the Black Star box. He served up one of his trademark Clark Field lobs to a wide open Chappy who headed it home for what was thought to be the opening goal. Not so fast said the linesman, who held up the offside flag – we’re still trying to work out the geometry of how Chap could have been in front of Billy as he crossed it back across the goal… but luckily there would be more chances to come for CRU.
After a bit of back and forth between the two teams, it was looking like a 0-0 draw would be the result of the day – not a bad result for Cameron Road considering we need all the points we can muster, but still, we were feeling like the game was there for the taking.
As time wound down and with only minutes left in the game, BT got out the old sand wedge, paused, put it back in the bag in favor of the 9 iron and lofted a ball to Bob who chested it down inside the box and had the composure to stab it across the bouncy pitch underneath the goalie’s arms. The dramatic late goal would prove to be all that was needed to secure the full three points.
Man-of-the-Match: Scoring the late game winner, clearing a sure goal off the line, and convincing Pat that there were thousands of available domain names available at Onion Creek fields if he showed up for the game earned Bob a much deserved award for the week.
