Men’s and Women’s Goalball National Teams Advance to Quarterfinals of World Championships

ESPOO, FINLAND — Thursday wrapped up the final day of round robin play for the Goalball World Championship Games. Team USA is well positioned as both the Men’s and Women’s teams are moving into the quarterfinal rounds that begin Friday morning.

The Women’s National Team (2-3) rebounded from a couple of tough losses yesterday to knock off Germany (0-5) 4-3, in their final round robin match, and only game of the day.

Asya Miller led the team in scoring on the day, netting three of the team’s goals, while Jen Armbruster scored the fourth goal for the Women.

The Women’s National Team secured fourth place in Pool X with the win and advances into the quarterfinal round tomorrow.  They face Brazil (4-1) at 5:15 am ET, who finished first in Pool Y.  Brazil’s only loss this tournament came against China, who finished in second place of Pool Y.

The Men’s National Team (4-2-1) finished pool play with mixed results. They handily put away Algeria (2-3-2) in their first match of the day, 6-2, before losing 3-8 to Finland (5-1-1).

Tyler Merren had another big game for the US, scoring all six of the team’s goals against Algeria.

The US Men faced Finland in their second match of the day, in front of a packed gym of Finnish supporters.  Finland received a special visit from their President, Sauli Niinistö, who made the trip to Espoo to see the teams play.

Merren also scored two goals against Finland while Andy Jenks scored the third.

Finland finished in first place of Pool A while the US Men secured third place in the pool and will face Turkey (5-0-2), who finished in second place of Pool Y, at 6:30 am ET.

Official stats and results can be found on the tournament webpage.

Neither the Men’s nor the Women’s games will be streamed tomorrow so be sure to follow @usaba1 on Twitter for real time scores and updates!  Go Team USA!

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