Cameron Road’s Win Streak Hits Six as They Outlast The Mary Kay Allstars in a Grueling 1-0 Win!

The Soccer Gods are smiling on Cameron Road United this summer as their win streak hits a monumental 6 games in a grind-it-out, hard-fought victory against Internacional Austin F.C. – a.k.a. The Mary Kay Allstars.

As the Austin temperatures soared to their highest for a brutal 4:00 pm game, Cameron Road gathered on the sidelines to face their toughest, undefeated opponent. A mixed bag of emotions were swirling around underneath the tent as Master Honey Badger Leif Sherry prepared to play his final game for United. Leif brought along a possee to see his farewell game – as a matter of fact, there were several guests on the sidelines, poised to give the team that extra burst of energy and encouragement when called upon.

With Leif in line for his last game, Ryan Willis learned that he’ll be on the shelf for a few weeks resting a worked over gut muscle. But in his absence, BT made a surprise return to the pitch for this brutal summer battle. As he suited up, braced his gooch with duct tape and resin from Jay’s backpack, and pulled on the golden jersey, the crowd buzzed in anticipation of a Willis Reed-like performance. (look it up).

Cameron Road started off nicely, zinging the ball around in an attempt to get some much needed time on the ball. For the first 20 minutes, the two teams battled to a stalemate. With the heat soaring and neither side particularly standing out as the favorite. Mary Kay relied on their feisty forward duo to push the Cameron Road defense, but each attack was thrown back by the likes of Cuyler, Billy, Dave, Leif and Luke.

As the water break neared, Gianluca drug a low shot just wide of the far post after getting himself free.

After Cameron Road won a corner kick and came close to scoring with the ball bouncing around inside the box, another corner was given. As another mad scramble inside the box occurred, a Mary Kay player was called for a hand ball. Luke maned up, strode to the penalty spot, and smashed in a beauty to give CRU the early lead and some needed momentum. Luke’s been coming on strong like a Bob Stoops max blitz on Colt McCoy  this season, so it was great to see the versatile renaissance man blast Cameron Road into the lead.

With the heat playing its part on both sides performance and attitudes, set pieces were going to be premium scoring chances. Cameron Road almost doubled their lead as Cuyler rose like the Kracken from the deep seas to knock in a powerful header off another corner kick. Unfortunately his effort was saved from close range. BT also made his presence known, with a trademark Allen Iverson crossover to left footed worm burner.

Showing his versatility yet again, Luke provided the halftime spark with some soccer mom orange slices to keep the tired bodies alive in the sweltering heat. You could tell that Mary Kay were getting frustrated, mostly at each other, but were ready to boil over. If Cameron Road could keep their composure in the 2nd half, they had a good chance of going on to win this thing.

Turns out that composures were getting harder to keep as the second half unfolded and Mary Kay started to turn up the heat on the referees and the Cameron Road players. They’re bickering and strong arm tactics became an all too familiar stepchild to an already heated affair. Cameron Road relationship specialist Dermot O’Driscoll had a few one-on-one sessions with the Mary Kay crusty sailor at midfield, Leif exchanged some verbal barbs with the headbanded ‘Cupcake’, and for the 2nd time in a few weeks Way was upended in the box and needed help getting off the field. Of course it also didn’t help that the referee insisted on missing hand balls and obvious fouls, but that’s part of the charm of summer soccer.

As the half wore on, Cameron Road had the feeling they could hang on for another shutout if they could just keep their composure. Mary Kay were held at bay, for the most part by some towering defensive headers by Cuyler at the back. And as the game wound down, it was United that had the better chances of doubling the lead with Adam coming oh-so-close from close range, Chappy narrowly missing on a looping header, and Gianluca firing off several chances.

In the end, it was a gritty performance by Cameron Road that saw out the victory against a clearly dissapointed Mary Kay team that sulked off the field, some even refusing the customary “it’s all good” post-match handshake. (After all, if you can’t share a high five and a round of beers with your enemy after the game, all is lost)

So a bittersweet day ended as Leif marched off the field victorious, we’ll miss his classy touches and constant in-game banter. We all wish him well over in Lu’zi’anna.

Someone else will have to pay close attention to the action next week against Torchy’s as your constant reporter will be assessing the conditions of the Florida coastline as well as his liver.

Man-of-the-Match: Very tough call this week. You’ve got Leif who earned the sentimental vote with a victorious farewell performance, Luke with a timely goal and orange slices, but this week’s dominant force is the Cameron Road “military looking guy” at the back. Cuyler. He was a beast at the back, clearing away countless balls from danger, and had a wicked header off a corner kick. And let’s not forget that the he brought both gatorade and beer. Well done Kraken, slumber peacefully this week in your deep watery retreat until summoned again.