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Mathis vs Dallas, 2001
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Five wins in a row
May 22, 2012
Well... nobody saw this coming. Not with Titi Henry wailing on the ground after hurting his hamstring. Yet here we are, four and a half games later, on a five-game winning streak. And all the wins are scrappy, by one goal. Hell, we'll take them.
This is the fourth time in Metro history that the team has had a five-game winning streak in league play. They had never made it to six. So let's look at the previous occurrences.
July 1 - 22, 2000
Metro came into July on a four-game streak without a loss, but their last game was a scoreless tie with San Jose. They started by beating Tampa on the road 2:0 behind goals by Mark Chung and Petter Villegas. This was followed by a 2:1 comeback home win over Dallas; Clint Mathis started his domination of the Burn and Billy Walsh contributed the gamewinner. An epic match in Kansas City was next, where Tim Howard stood on his head to preserve the shutout and Mathis scored the lone, late goal. The Metros then shutout the Revs in Foxboro, 2:0, Alex Comas and Villegas scoring (yes, there were times when Metro actually won at Foxboro). They came back home to trash Miami 4:2, with Comas finding the net twice, and Adolfo Valencia and Villegas also contributing. Metro actually ran the all competition winning streak to six after trashing Tampa in the Open Cup 3:0 in a game played on Long Island, but for these purposes we're only discussing regular season games.
April 28 - May 16, 2001
The schedule makers decided to give Metro a run of six straight games at home early in the season. They lost the first to Tampa, but proceeded to win the next five in memorable fashion. Mathis' Goal of the Year run through the Dallas defense punctuated the 3:2 win in which Villegas and Chung also scored. Four days later, Mathis delivered an extraordinary hat-trick, scoring with his left, his right, and his head, as Metro trashed Kansas City 4:1. (Valencia got the other.) Three days later, in what we consider the most amazing game in club history, Metro came back from two goals down in the last 11 minutes to beat DC 3:2. Mathis, Rodrigo Faria, and Villegas scored in the dramatic comeback. Two shutouts followed: 2:0 over Los Angeles on goals by Mathis and Villegas, and 1:0 over Colorado on a Comas penalty kick, the last competitive goal he'd score for Metro.
April 26 - May 24, 2003
This early-season streak was preceded by a tie with Los Angeles. It started in Columbus, as Mike Magee scored his first career goal, the lone one of the match, and then proceeded to fly to Chicago for his prom. Metro then returned home to beat Colorado 2:1 as Craig Ziadie had the game of his life with an assist on a Mathis tally and his first and only Metro goal. Mathis followed up with the only goal in a triumph over the Scum of DC. The lone multi-goal win of this streak came on the road in Colorado, with Mathis and Magee scoring. Finally, Metro beat Dallas 2:1. Mathis continued his domination of Dallas on a goal off a free kick inside the box due to a backpass. Steve Jolley had a winner on a long shot.
Alas, all those streaks ended in the next game. Maybe this current one can keep on going?
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