Utah Men, Women win Western Regional Goalball Championships

(Colorado Springs, CO.) – Every goalball team spends countless hours practicing for the “what ifs.” For example: “What if you find yourself in the fifth overtime period and you still haven’t scored a winning goal?”  The Utah Men’s Goalball Team found itself in exactly that predicament during Saturday’s gold medal game at the U.S. Association of Blind Athletes Western Regional Goalball Championships.

With the game tied at four against the Michigan Spitfire, the overtime rounds began.  First two three-minute overtime periods without a score.

In the first shootout period, the Michigan Spitfire took an early lead with a goal by Carl Love (Wayne, Mich.) before Lewis Burdette (Myton, Utah) scored for Utah with a shot past J.J. Meddaugh (Saginaw, Mich.)

Following the first shootout, both teams went into a sudden death shootout where Love began the lineup with a score against Paralympian Chris Dodds (Myton, Utah). Dodds answered with a goal on Love.  As each of the remaining four players were held scoreless at the end of the period, a second sudden death shootout was in order.

This time, Dodds scored on Love for a second time and managed to block Love’s return shot, securing the win, 6-5.

“By the time you get to what is essentially the fifth overtime period, players, coaches and fans are very wound up with the intensity of play and the drama of the moment,” said Utah Coach Tony Jepson (Riverton, Utah). “Every throw, every block, is a nail-biting play. What more could anybody want from any sporting event? It was an exciting and classic ending to the tournament.”

In the women’s gold medal game, Utah soundly defeated the Bay Area Outreach Program (BORP), 14-7. Led by Trisha Chase (Murray, Utah), who won both Best Defensive and Best Offensive Play awards, the Utah Women’s Goalball Team was undefeated during the tournament, outscoring its opponents, 59-24.

Staying true to the “every tournament needs a shootout” theme of the weekend, BORP won the right to play in the gold medal game through a 3-2 shootout win over the Northwest Association of Blind Athletes (NWABA) Storm who ultimately won the bronze medal.

In the men’s bronze medal game, the NWABA Northern Lightening defeated BORP, 8-5.

For more information, please contact Nicole Jomantas, USABA Communications Director, at (719) 630-0422, ext. 10.

Complete results are as follows:

Men’s Results

1. Utah (6-2): Dodds, Burdette, Quintin Williams (Riverton, Utah)
2. Michigan Spitfire (7-1): Love, Meddaugh, John Kusku (Warren, Mich.) and Joe Hamilton (Wayne, Mich.)
3. NWABA Northern Lightening (1-6-1): Robert Chu (Vancouver, Wash.), Matt Hines (Vancouver, Wash.), Brandon Spence (Kennewick, Wash.), Ray Ingle (Vancouver, Wash.), Michael Birenbaum (Vancouver, Wash.), Marty Langworthy (Yelm, Wash.)
4. BORP (1-6-1): Roger Acuna (Berkley, Calif.), Victor Hakopian (San Francisco, Calif.), Paul Heidhues (San Francisco, Calif.), Shen Kuan (Millbrae, Calif.), Marco Zepeda (Redwood, Calif.), Bill Johnson (Alameda, Calif.)

Women’s Results

1. Utah (5-0): Chase, Marnie David (Ogden, Utah), Amanda Carrigan (Moab, Utah), Rachel Jepson (Riverton, Utah), Heather Curtis (Salt Lake City, Utah), Chris Clark (Salt Lake City, Utah)
2. BORP (2-4): Kim Cruz (San Francisco, Calif.), Lucy Greco (Fremont, Calif.), Lisamaria Martinez (Berkley, Calif.), Julie Stamm (Menlo Park, Calif.), Christella Garcia (Sacramento, Calif.)
3. NWABA Storm (1-4): Tina Sparkman (La Center, Wash.), Mallory Monfredi (Gresham, Ore.), Michelle Baker (Vancouver, Wash.)

USABA, a member organization of the U.S. Olympic Committee, is a nonprofit organization that provides training for blind and visually impaired athletes for competition in nine sports. USABA members range from blind children developing sports skills to elite athletes who train for competitions such as the Paralympic Games, the world's second largest athletic competition that draws more than 4,000 disabled athletes.