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U.S. Women's Goalball Team Continues to Dominate at Worlds
Men pick up win and controversial tie
// U.S. Association of Blind Athletes
// June 29, 2006
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| Photo by Getty Images |
Lisa Banta, shown at the 2004 Paralympic Games, scored three goals in the U.S. Women's Team's two wins Thursday.
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The Women’s National Goalball Team continued to dominate the competition during today’s preliminary round action at the International Blind Sports Association (IBSA) World Goalball Championships in Spartanburg, S.C. Team USA shut out Korea 7-0 and dominated Japan, 6-1. In today’s two games, Asya Miller (Battle Creek, Mich.) led Team USA five goals followed by Jennifer Armbruster (Colorado Springs, Colo.) with four goals and Lisa Banta (Boonton, N.J.) with three.
“We made our first objective to win the top four in our bracket which guarantees that we move on to the cross-over,” said Coach Ken Armbruster (Colorado Springs, Colo.). “We’re where we want to be.”
Team USA currently leads their bracket with 12 points going into tomorrow’s final day of preliminary competition with games remaining against Germany and Australia.
On the men’s side, Team USA narrowly defeated Iran, 8-6, and tied Spain in their controversial second game, 2-2. With Spain leading 2-1 with less than two minutes to play, Tyler Merren (Kalamazoo. Mich.) threw a rocket which deflected off Spain’s right wing player and on to the top of the goal, prompting the official to call, "ball out." However, moments later, the ball landed in Spain’s goal. “Clearly the ball was still in play which should have counted as a goal,” said Coach Tom Parrigin (St. Augustine, Fla.), who later would protest the call. With 14 seconds remaining in the game, Donte Mickens (Tallahassee, Fla.) rifled one last shot for Team USA past the Spanish defense to tie the game. The tie gave Team USA one additional point in their bracket and is currently third in their bracket with 10 points. Slovenia leads the pack with 15 points, followed by Sweden with 12.
“Wins over Korea and Sweden tomorrow should land us second in our bracket going into cross-over,” said Parrigin. Sponsored by the National Industries for the Blind (NIB), the U.S. Association of Blind Athletes Men’s and Women’s National Goalball teams will continue round robin competition through Friday with the medal rounds scheduled for Saturday July 1. The IBSA World Goalball Championships is a qualify tournament for the 2008 Beijing Paralympics Games. For current results regarding this event go to www.worldgoalball.com.
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