First tournament. First win. Who could have predicted it?
For our second participation in the MN Fall Classic, we had the ambition to reach the final of the tournament. The competition was there with last year’s tournament winner Chicago Inter and the always tough-to-beat New York Athletic Club. In the round robin, our men’s team successively defeated the Wolves (31:16), Milwaukee (27:16) and Army West Point Black (26:18).
Our last round robin game against West Point, in particular, had a semifinal feel. But our team was ready for it…
With the arrival of ex- US Men’s NT Ass. Coach, Mark Ortega, West Point proved to have even more tools to rival against some of the best. In the first half, both teams battled fiercely, scoring one after the other. Our team managed to take a two goal lead right before halftime thanks to converting crucial fast-breaks. In second half, our tactical superiority outplayed West Point’s physical abilities, getting us one step closer to the trophy.
In the final game against New York Athletic Club, we had the desire to impose a high tempo from the very start while carefully focusing our attention on the opponent’s star player, Omar Ali. In a first half marked by several technical mistakes, our team took a slight advantage following the lead of an unstoppable Zuwed Akuro (5 goals / 3 assists in the first half) and remarkable defenses by Kasper Ogendahl. In the second half, the depth of our bench had the expected impact, taking the best over our opponent’s shorter roster. 5 minutes before the end, our team had up to a 10 goal advantage, which NYAC managed to reduce until the clock ran out. The time was on our side though and our team won the title 38:32.
Kasper Ogendahl deservedly got awarded the Most Valuable Player award following a brilliant performance in both offense and defense. His impact on the team could be felt from the very first game. Omid Bazanjani was named the Most Valuable Goalkeeper following a successful tournament and final game were he collected many crucial saves.
Our team has now returned to California and will be preparing, together with our women’s team, for the upcoming Michael L. Memorial Cup in Chicago (October 28-30). Stay tuned for more news!