Rio 2016: U.S. Women’s Goalball Advance to Rio 2016 Quarterfinals

U.S. Women’s Goalball is in second place with a 3-1 record in their group going into quarterfinals, which begin tomorrow. Team USA finished up preliminary play against Israel this morning.

U.S. Women allowed the first goal 2 minutes into the first half but Amanda Dennis tied it up 1-1 at 6:27. Israel slid a second goal past U.S. Women with 30 seconds left in the first half to which Asya Miller answered with a fast pitch into the left corner. At halftime, the score was tied 2-2.

Israel committed two long ball penalties at the beginning of the second half but U.S. Women were unable to convert the shots. Asya Miller then scored two goals, moving Team USA into the lead for the first time in the game. Lisa Czechowski extended the lead by slipping one past Israel to make it 5-2. Even with a goal at 4:00 left in the game, Israel couldn’t stop Team USA’s momentum. Miller and Czechowski each scored once more before the team used their three substitutions to bring in Eliana Mason, Jen Armbruster and Marybai Huking to play out the buzzer.

“We talked about staying patient in the locker room when we left,” said Dennis. “We knew that the first half would be really tight because Israel is a good first half team and they have very good defense – and they have really good throw execution.”

After this 7-3 win against Israel, U.S. will play against Canada in the quarterfinal on Wednesday, September 14, at 7:30pm BRT.

“We’ve done really well all tournament so far,” said Dennis. “Our goal is to hit good offensive spots and then stay patient as a team on defense because we can get the goals, we just have to block them from coming into our net.”

Team USA will use the afternoon to rest and focus on tomorrow’s quarterfinal game against Canada. Canada finished third in Group D after preliminary play. Follow U.S. Women’s Goalball on Facebook and Twitter for more frequent updates.

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