As reported on Friday evening, the 2024 Southwest Regionals for goalball set a number of story lines in motion along with lots of stiff competition. Once returning to their championship form, the Manticores ran the table to win the event for the men and the Minks showed a solid unbeaten performance in winning the women’s division.
You can find the breakdown of medals and results here. Needless to say, we have much to anticipate this season. The King Cobras from Seattle are for real with, no doubt, a favorite for season MVP in Daryl Walker. His agility and shot selection garnered him by far the most individual points of any player.
The balanced scoring of the Texas Rattlesnakes makes them an automatic threat regardless of who they will face in future games. Sure, Will Lopez and Jim Debus were in peak form but you cannot push the ball at will past any of the Rattlesnakes’ inside defense. Rather than speculating on what chinks in the Manticores’ armor Friday’s match-up revealed, fix on the preparedness of the Rattlesnakes poise to rack up a lot of points at will.
As for the repeat national champion Manticores, we know what the top three long-standing teammates-Wellborn, Main, and Buhler- can bring. Now add to the rotation Ali As reported on Friday evening, the 2024 Southwest Regionals for goalball set a number of story lines in motion along with lots of stiff competition. Once returning to their championship form, the Manticores ran the table to win the event for the men and the Minks showed a solid unbeaten performance in winning the women’s division.
You can find the breakdown of medals and results here. Needless to say, we have much to anticipate this season? The King Cobras from Seattle are for real with, no doubt, a favorite for season MVP in Daryl Walker. His agility and shot selection garnered him by far the most individual points of any player.
The balanced scoring of the Texas Rattlesnakes makes them an automatic threat regardless of who they will face in future games. Sure, Will Lopez and Jim Debus were in peak form but you cannot push the ball at will past any of the Rattlesnakes’ inside defense. Rather than speculating on what chinks in the Manticores’ armor Friday’s match-up revealed, fix on the preparedness of the Rattlesnakes poise to rack up a lot of points at will.
As for the repeat national champion Manticores, we know what the top three long-standing teammates-Wellborn, Main, and Buhler- can bring. Now add to the rotation Ali Ghousiasl, whose defense and scoring punch made for several photo ops which you can see throughout the competition. Just check out Ability 360’s webpage and scroll down to the links taking you to the various days of action. Will this foursome garner yet more victories for the Manticores this year en route to another title in USABA goalball? The next few months will unveil that possibility as the Manticores, whose members hail from various parts of the country, display their passion for the game and prowess few have matched in recent memory.
On the women’s side, without the NJ Honeybees present, the Maryland Minks were simply dominant led by Bridget Cassidy. In addition, the relatively new team-the NY Disciples showed that they are a program on the rise. Meghan Fink and her teammates will no doubt show even more maturity in the game as coached by Alvin Suarez. So don’t be surprised for even better results for them than this tournament’s bronze.
As always, Boldly Blind will bring further updates on the forthcoming tournaments and individual accolades in USABA Goalball. So stay tuned as those goalballs roll!
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