Crown and Phantoms Earn National Goalball Titles

Twenty-one teams from across the country traveled to Fort Wayne, Indiana, for the 2018 USABA Goalball National Championships. Turnstone, home to the U.S. Goalball Center of Excellence hosted the tournament for the third consecutive year.

Round robin play began on Thursday evening and ran through Friday evening. Quarterfinals were played early Saturday morning to determine which teams would earn the opportunity to compete for the 2018 national titles.

Men’s division

At the end of round robin games, Cyclones led Pool A with a 2-0-1 record, Crown led Pool B with three wins, MWABA Eagles led Pool C with four wins, and New Jersey Thunder led Pool D with four wins.

MWABA Eagles met Crown in quarterfinals where Crown prevailed 7-4 and advanced to semifinals with New York Knights. The Crown prevailed again in semifinals beating the Knights 11-2.

On the other side of the men’s bracket, Goonsquad beat Cyclone to advance to semifinals against Michigan Omega who beat New Jersey Thunder in quarterfinals. Michigan Omega earned bronze in their final game against New York Knights.

Crown and Goonsquad gave the audience a nail-biting first half with a 5-3 halftime score in favor of Crown. Crown returned to the court in the second half and turned up the competition to earn gold, and their fourth consecutive USABA Goalball National Title with a 11-5 final score.

“To play here, to win a third consecutive championship at Turnstone, that’s really awesome,” Crown player Joseph Hamilton told the Journal Gazette in an interview. “It’s the culmination of 10 months of hard work. It’s been another level mentally because there’s such good competition. Beating a quality opponent like the Goonsquad means a lot. It means a lot for our brand, means a lot for the Crown, means a lot to me.”

Two individuals scored 37 goals each, more than any individual in the tournament – Cody Carmicle and Grej Pesjaka. The tie-breaker looked at which individual’s team went further in the competition. Carmicle, who competed in the gold medal game with Goonsquad, therefore was awarded Most Valuable Player for his 37 goals.

Women’s division

In the women’s division, the Georgia Phantoms were 6 points ahead of the rest of the pack with 4 wins at the end of round robin play. Six teams made up the women’s pool – Phantoms, New Jersey Honeybees, New Jersey Storm, Rose City Thorns, DC Sting and GLASA Tsunami.

In the playoffs, Rose City Thorns faced the New Jersey Honeybees and advanced to the semifinals after beating the Honeybees 9-2. The Honeybees then played DC Sting for bronze and earned the medal with a 11-1 mercy over DC Sting.

In the gold medal game, the dominant Georgia Phantoms played Rose City Thorns. It was an intense game with great play from both teams. In the end, Phantoms prevailed 3-2 with Amanda Dennis scoring the winning goal. Dennis was also the leading scorer in the women’s division throughout the tournament and earned the tournament’s Most Valuable Player award.

Dennis noted hard work and preparation as the top reasons for her team’s win in an interview with the local newspaper, Journal Gazette.

Congratulations to all teams, athletes and coaches the competed this weekend and THANK YOU to all of the volunteers and staff that made this tournament run so smoothly!

Final results:

Men’s division:

Gold – Crown
Silver – Goonsquad
Bronze – Michigan Omega
4^th – New York Knights
5^th – MWABA Eagles
6^th – New Jersey Thunder
7^th – Cyclone
8^th – DC Blue Eagles
9^th – Florida
10^th – NIU Huskies
11^th – Columbus Chill
12^th – GLASA Riptide
13^th – Atlanta Wolves
14^th – New York Empire
15^th – USABA Veterans

Top Scorers:

Cody Carmicle – 37 goals
Grej Pesjaka – 37 goals
Jahron Black – 35 goals
John Kusku – 29 goals
Joe Hamilton – 20 goals

Women’s division:

Gold – Georgia Phantoms
Silver – Rose City Thorns
Bronze – New Jersey Honeybees
4^th – DC Sting
5^th – GLASA Tsunmai
6^th – New Jersey Storm

Top Scorers:

Amanda Dennis – 35 goals
Ali Lawson – 27 goals
Lisa Czechowski – 27 goals
Eliana Mason – 26 goals
Shavon Lockhardt – 20 goals

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