7 teams, the most ever, gathered to compete for the title at BORPs 20th Goalball Invitational on December 6, 2014. The Teams A Vigorous Smiting: Julie Cabrera (1st year), Mandy Gargano, Thomas Foley, Brandon Young Blue Thunder: Victor Hakopian, Bill Johnson, Sergio Lopez, Jessie Lorenz Breeze: Iman Awad (1st year), Marissa Garcia (1st year), Madison Javier(1st year), Maggie Lee, Michelle Yoo CAL Goalden Bears: Jessica Adams, Micah Aveno (1st year), Erik Elvebak, Ann Kwong, Chris Lucero, Judith Lung (1st year), Will Slason (1st year) Green Machine: Roger Acuna, Khemnesuel Fisher, Jon Marcotte Roadrunners: Karla Gilbride, Paul Heidhues, Shen Kuan, Jon Simeone Sacramento: Abel Del Toro, Christella Garcia, Joe Hamilton, Bryanna Stubbert Game Re-cap Milestone #1 was the seven teams competing and that made for a jammed schedule that kept everyones adrenaline high. Milestone #2 was achieved in the first game of the day (Blue Thunder vs. Roadrunners) as Victor Hakopian scored the Invitationals 2000th goal. The Blue Thunder won 4-1 putting on a strong defensive show that was highlighted by the return to goalball of Jessie Lorenz after a 6+ year absence. CALs goalball team served notice in Game #2 that they were going to a force to be reckoned with as they took a 4-1 lead in the first half against A Vigorous Smiting. The tide turned as Smiting used 3 unstoppable blasts from Brandon Young in the halfs final minute to forge a 4-4 tie. Brandon scored 2 more goals in the 2nd half and with a total of 6 for the match led Smiting to an 8-5 victory. Sacramento met Breeze in Game #3 and Sac proved to have too much experience and fire power for the Breeze youngsters to counter. Final was 7-0 Sacramento. Game #4 turned very quickly against the Roadrunners as Green Machine showed tough defense and a relentless offense resulting in a 10-0 final score. Paul Heidhues returned from an 8 year absence from the BORP tournament (during which he helped a goalball program get started in Texas) to start at center for the Roadrunners. In Game #5 CAL matched Sacramento goal for goal behind 3 goals from Will Slason and were tied 3-3 at halftime. In the second half both teams played tight defense but Sac notched 2 goals midway through the half that sealed their 5-3 win. Tom Foley was the offensive star in Game #6 with 6 first half goals that led A Vigorous Smiting to a 10-4 triumph over the improving Breeze. Michelle Yoo had 3 goals for Breeze. Blue Thunder and Green Machine squared off in Game #7 to decide who would finish first in Pool B. A well played first half ended 3-2 Green Machine. However Thunders Hakopian scored 2 quick goals at the start of the 2nd half and Thunder clamped down on defense to surge to a 7-3 win. 3rd Place in Pool A and a bye into the 5th Place game was at stake in Game #8 for CAL and Breeze. Milestone #3 was achieved in this game as it featured the first all-woman line-ups at the start of a game for both teams in the 20 years of the BORP Invitational. A back and forth affair went deep into the final minute tied 5-5. With only 8 seconds left Breezes Michelle Yoo scored what seemed like it would be the game winner and put Breeze ahead 6-5. However last minute CAL sub Chris Lucero defied the clock with a goal right before the buzzer that earned CAL a 6-6 tie and the higher seeding (based on tie-breaker protocol). Jessica Adams (3 goals) and Ann Kwong (2 goals) were the scoring stars for CAL with Marissa Garcia (3 goals) and Michelle Yoo (2 goals) pacing Breeze. Game #9 was the final pool play game of the day and 1st place in Pool A was on the line for Sacramento and A Vigorous Smiting. The top offensive players for each team were in great form with Smitings Young showing a mixture of power and guile on his way to 8 goals and Sacs Del Toro blasting 7 from all over the court. Smiting pulled into a tenuous 9-8 lead as Young and Foley scored consecutive goals in the final minute and as the clock ticked down it looked like Smiting would prevail. It was not to be as Sacramentos late sub Joe Hamilton slotted the a buzzer beater in for Sac to earn the 9-9 tie and the higher play-off seed. It was amazing to have back-to-back games follow such similar nerve-wracking scripts and set-up high expectations for the play-offs to follow. The play-offs did not disappoint... Roadrunners and Breeze faced off in Game #10 with a spot in the 5th Place game on the line. Both teams were solid on defense but Roadrunners picked up 2 early goals and built that advantage into a 5-2 win. Semifinal #1 matched up Sacramento and Blue Thunder and a familiar theme played out in the first half. Sacramento took an early 3-1 lead with goals from Hamilton (2) and Del Toro (1) but Thunder caught up by halftime with goals from Garcia (2) and Johnson (1). After the break Sacramento used 2 goals from Del Toro to build a 5-3 lead only to see Thunders Lopez cut the lead to 5-4 with 5 minutes to play. With both teams playing stalwart defense and the tension rising neither team could find the net until a last second goal by Sacramento sealed their 6-4 victory. Semifinal #2 between Green Machine and A Vigorous Smiting turned into the Roger Acuna show as his 4 first half goals (and 5 total) and the Machines stingy defense resulted in a 5-1 Green Machine triumph. The 5th Place game between CAL and Roadrunners was a 14 minute roller-coaster ride. CAL grabbed a 4-2 halftime lead behind a quick 4 goals from Will Slason. In the second half the Roadrunners settled down on defense and started chipping away at the CAL lead eventually tying the game at 5-5 with 4 minutes left. A Roadrunners goal from Heidhues with 2.5 minutes left and and a much needed insurance goal from Simeone 30 seconds later finished off the entertaining match 7-6 in favor of the Roadrunners. 3rd Place was an attractive match-up between the high scoring A Vigorous Smiting and the more defensive minded Blue Thunder. With Brandon Young sidelined due to a finger injury in a previous game the Smiting had no offensive answer for the Thunders tight defense and succumbed 6-2. Victor Hakopian led the Thunders attack with 4 goals. The First Place game between Sacramento and Green Machine started as a defensive battle as both teams probed for cracks in the defense of their opponents. A Hamilton goal for Sacramento at the 2 minute mark was quickly answered by Jon Marcotte of the Green Machine 30 seconds later. Khemnes Fisher found the net for the Machine at 5:40 and the half ended 2-1 Machine. The defenses stayed strong into the 3rd minute of half #2 until Sacs Del Toro evened things up 2-2. Unfortunately for the Sac side this seemed to wake-up the dormant Machine offense and 5 unanswered Machine goals followed in quick succession. While Machine was finding the seams in the Sac defense they also played out-of-their mind defense at their end and knocked several Sac rockets over the net or off a post to maintain their advantage. Sac made one last offensive thrust with 2 Del Toro goals in the final minute to get to 7-4 but Green Machine held on for a hard earned 20th BORP Goalball Invitational Championship! With this victory Roger Acuna secured his 9th BORP title. No other player has more than 4! As a free agent Roger is looking for a multi-year deal and team naming rights. Thank You to our wonderful tournament sponsors BORP – 20 years Innovative Interfaces – 20 years Nakashima Fine Arts – 20 years Sue Johnson, Custom Lamps and Shades – 19 years Scot Goodman Photography – 19 years Vision Faire Optometry - 16 years Zander Associates, Environmental Consultants – 14 years CamelBak – 9 years Ikeda/Greenwood Family – 4 years Golden Gate Labrador Retriever Rescue – 1 year While all the sponsors received warm applause, the biggest cheer of the day may have been for first time sponsor: Golden Gate Labrador Retriever Rescue. Thank You to the many event volunteers for devoting their time, energy and skill to supporting the BORP Tournament. Special Thanks Dawn Nakashima Scot Goodman Matt Boyle Delta Gamma Stephanie Spenny Sharan Ikeda and all the Greenwoods Rick Smith Bill Johnson Lucy Greco Mike Duigou Jessica Adams Matt Grigorieff Joe Hamilton Brandon Young Derek Van Rheenen Lucas Tobin More Thanks Thanks to all the players, coaches, friends, donors, staff and families who support the goalball program throughout the year and make BORP Goalball the premier program it is!
Posted on: Fri, 12 Dec 2014 19:33:48 +0000
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