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Men's National Goalball Team Captures Gold and Silver in Europe
By Ryan Ortiz
// U.S. Association of Blind Athletes
// June 21, 2007
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Chris Dodds received tournament MVP honors in the USA's gold medal win in Lithuania.
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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The Men's National Goalball Team, sponsored by the National Industries for the Blind, recently wrapped up a successful two-competition European tour, garnering top finishes in both events.
The team first traveled to Trakai, Lithuania where they competed and earned gold in the International Goalball Tournament for the Vytaus the Great Lion's Club Cup, June 7-10. The team emerged from pool play undefeated, besting teams from Sweden (8-7), the Ukraine (9-3), Poland (6-4) and Lithuania #2 (10-5).
In the semifinal round, the Team USA encountered a Finland team that played a strong first half. In the second half, the U.S. launched an offensive attack resulting in six unanswered goals, propelling them to the gold-medal game with an 11-3 victory.
In the gold-medal game, Team USA met a tough Lithuania #1 team, the 2006 IBSA World Goalball Champions. Lithuania jumped out to an early lead, but the U.S. men countered by outscoring their opponents in the first half, ending it with a 6-4 lead. The Lithuanian came out strong in the second half, quickly reducing the U.S. lead to one goal. Seven seconds later, Team USA rebounded with another goal, regaining a two-goal advantage. The world champion Lithuanians came back with another score but their efforts weren’t enough as the USA men closed the game out with a strong defensive finish, winning the game 7-6, claiming the gold medal with an undefeated tournament finish.
In addition to the win, USA center Chris Dodds (Logan, Utah) was named as the tournament's outstanding player and teammate Donte Mickens (Tallahassee, Fla.) shared the title of outstanding offensive player, scoring 23 goals during the tournament.
According to head coach Tom Parrigin (St. Augustine, Fla.), "The men performed extremely well against very tough competition and exceeded all goals we set for this tournament."
The men then headed to Madrid, Spain, where they competed in the Cuidad de Fuenlabrada tournament, June 14-17. Once again, the team faced top ranked international teams from Germany, Iran, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain in their pool, semifinal and final round matches.
The U.S. men were again undefeated in pool play besting National teams from Portugal (11-8), Slovenia (7-4) and Iran (10-0). In the semifinal round, the U.S. men encountered a tough German team, who were denied a place on the medal stand in Lithuania the previous week. The teams locked horns defensively, with both teams tied 1-1 at the end of the first half. In the second half, the U.S. attacked the strong German defense with goals from Tyler Merren (Kalamazoo, Mich.) and Donte Mickens (Tallahassee, Fla.) giving the U.S. men a two goal margin going into the final minutes of play. The Germans, not willing to concede defeat, scored late in the game but that effort wasn't enough as the U.S. emerged victorious, earning a 3-2 win.
Undefeated in all games to this point, in the finals, the U.S. met their toughest opponent, the host Spanish team. The U.S. played a strong defensive game, holding a 2-1 lead at halftime. Unfortunately, the U.S. men couldn't rebound from two second half Spanish goals in the second half and suffered their only loss in both tournaments to the Spanish with a 3-2 loss, earning them a silver medal finish.
"Despite a tough loss to the Spanish, the men played very well during their two weeks on the road and are certainly on the right track for a successful outcome in the 2008 Beijing Paralympics," stated Coach Parrigin.
The U.S. men's team consisted of Stephen Denuyl (Kalamazoo, Mich.), Christopher Dodds (Logan, Utah), Tyler Merren (Kalamazoo, Mich.), Donte Mickens (Tallahassee, Fla.), and Edward Munro (St Augustine, Fla.). Mike Lege (St Augustine, Fla.), Tom Parrigin (St Augustine, Fla.) and John Potts (Shiloh, Ill.) rounded out the U.S. team.
Goalball is a Paralympic sport played by athletes who are blind and visually impaired and are sponsored in the USA by the National Industries for the Blind.
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