Women’s Goalball Team Heads to Gold Medal Match; Men Set to Compete for Bronze Medal in Tokyo

In a semifinal thriller that went into double overtime and six extra throws, Team USA’s women’s goalball team defeated Brazil, 5-4, to advance to Friday’s gold medal contest against Turkey. Amanda Dennis brought the U.S. back from a 2-0 deficit with two goals in the final 2:28 of regulation.

After two scoreless three-minute sudden death overtime periods, the game was decided by extra throws with each team sending out all six players on their roster. When Eliana Mason put

the U.S. up 5-4 in the fifth round, Paralympic rookie Mindy Cook came up with the final block to preserve the win and advance to the gold medal final. 

The U.S. women are now assured of their seventh Paralympic medal and will be trying for their first gold since 2008. The gold medal match is at 5:45 p.m. local time.

In the men’s goalball semifinal match the U.S. team started off strong behind Paralympic rookie Calahan Young, who scored on the team’s first throw of the contest to grab an early 1-0 led over China. There was a sense that the Americans could take control early, but the Chinese hunkered down on defense and shut down access to their goal for the remainder of the contest as they prevailed 8-1 to move on to Friday’s gold medal game. Mingyuan Yang accounted for six of China’s eight goals, including three on penalty throws.

The U.S. men’s goalball team will now play for the bronze medal on Friday at 3:00 p.m. JST against the second-place team of the Lithuania-Brazil contest and are looking to secure the sixth Paralympic medal in men’s team history.