Fuente: Inside teh Games
evolution survived a late Fury flurry to prevent the United States from claiming all three gold medals at the World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) World Ultimate Club Championships in Ohio.
The Colombians, who were leading 13-11, were pegged back to 13-13 after the time cap expired to bring the women’s division final and the overall competition to a grand finale at the Mason High School’s Atrium Stadium.
Despite the Americans using every last ounce of energy, their revival was ultimately met with disappointment as Yina Paola Cartagena Muñoz scored the winner.
PoNY and Seattle Mixtape were the gold medallists in the open and mixed divisions respectively.
Maria Manuela Cárdenas Velásquez shined for second seed Revolution against first seed Fury, supplying five assists and sealing one goal on their path to victory.
Initially, the match did not start well for Revolution as Fury jumped out to a 3-0 start.
Led by Velásquez, Revolution refused to fold early and brought the game within one goal.
A touch of controversy was sparked when Fury’s Calise Cardenas caught the disc between her legs and the players debated whether it had touched the ground first before cleanly catching it.
The teams adjudged that Cardenas was successful and the goal was given to increase the score to 5-3.
This setback did not dampen Revolution’s spirits as they replied with a three-goal run.
Revolution’s fighting force was backed up by a loud supporting contingent in the crowd and they gave them more to celebrate by extending the lead to 9-6 after half-time.
Both teams continued to battle hard and a Revolution victory seemed inevitable once Alejandra Uribe Noreña extended their lead to 13-11 just before the time cap hit.
Nevertheless, due to WFDF rules, Revolution needed to score another to win and nervous turnovers opened the door to a Fury fightback.
Following over six minutes of tension, Octavia Payne equalised for the Americans and the Atrium Stadium was engulfed in drama.
It was universe point – the next to score was the winner – and the weight of the moment could be felt on the players’ shoulders as both teams were forced into persistent turnovers in blazing temperatures.
After almost 10 minutes of suspense, Revolution triggered a turnover close to the Fury end zone and Muñoz caught the winning throw.
Japan’s MUD were recognised with the Spirit Award – the WFDF fair play honour.
In the women’s bronze medal match, America’s Raleigh Phoenix bettered Australia’s Ellipsis 15-12.
Sarah Meckstroth starred for the bronze medallists thanks to five goals and another two assists.
Audrey Lyman impressed just as much with four assists and two goals.
In the open final, Jeff Babbitt and Sean Keegan combined for nine goals to fire PoNY to a 15-12 triumph against American compatriots Raleigh Ring of Fire.
The afternoon fixture was a close encounter between two teams of close quality.
With the score tied 4-4, PoNY crucially bagged a goal off a turnover to give them the controlling possession.
After securing a two-goal advantage post half-time, Babbitt increased the deficit to 9-6.
Raleigh Ring of Fire brought the match back within one, but this only proved to be faint hope as Keegan and Babbitt rounded off the victory in the final two possessions.
The open division’s Spirit Award winners were Japan’s Buzz Bullets.
Seattle Mixtape proved to be the overwhelming force in the mixed division final after they quashed Canada’s Red Flag’s hopes of lifting gold by winning 15-6.
It was a complete performance from the host nation side, with Kelly Johnson notching two goals and two assists and Bert Cherry and Khalif El-Salaam showing their passing prowess through four assists each.
After the Americans jumped out to a 4-1 lead, Red Flag struggled to claw themselves back into the match.
In fact, Seattle Mixtape increased the gap to four after securing the eighth goal to trigger half-time.
The chance to regroup for Red Flag did little to help as Seattle Mixtape sought to make this victory a complete blowout.
Seattle Mixtape proceeded to score five consecutive goals after half-time.
Sam Creed and Zoe Luke managed to tally two consolation goals for Red Flag while Paige Kercher put the icing on the cake to claim gold.
Colorado of Germany were named as the mixed division’s Spirit Award winners.