By: Jen Armbruster, Tournament Director
The 2016 Cascade Classic Goalball tournament finished on Valentine’s day with some sweet medal matches. The ladies from Portland State faced off against N.J. for BRONZE. Both teams had national players representing their clubs. Portland State University jumped out to an early lead and never looked back securing the 3rd place finish. The Utah guys faced another local team of the Northwest Association of Blind Athletes (NWABA) Avalanche which was a close contest but the Men from Utah proved to be too much of a match for the local team.
The GOLD medal matches were set with the local Rose City ladies taking on the women from Ontario. Again, both teams were comprised of national players from both sides of the border. Six of the seven ladies involved in the match have put on the stars and stripes or the maple leaf for their country. These two teams met in round robin play with Rose City winning 5-4. This time, it started off with Asya Miller striking first and second. Both Amanda Dennis and Jen Armbruster got on the scoreboard for Rose City pulling away with a 6-2 victory.
The men’s side saw an all-Canada final with British Columbia facing Alberta after an extra throws victory in the semifinals against Utah. British Columbia continued on Sunday with a wall of defense that only gave up one goal and secured the championship hoody with a 4-1 victory. Ahmed Zevidavi, Brendan Gaulin and Doug Ripley put up a great show of defense only giving up the 1 goal.
The final standings for the first regional of the year were:
Women
1. Rose City Thorns
2. Ontario
3. Portland State University
4. NJ Honeybees
5. BC
6. UT Dynamite
7. CA Shock
Men
1. BC 1
2. Alberta
3. UT Explosion
4. NWABA Avalanche
5. Pool team
6. AZ Sting
7. BC 2