Warm weather. Spring training
baseball. March in Arizona is a signal for many things and for the power soccer
community, it means the annual Power Blast tournament. This year's field
was packed with 11 teams, with the SpoFit Spark making their official debut and
the Okanagan Thunderchairs making the trip from Canada. In addition,
there were teams from nearly every USPSA conference represented.
Kicking off the weekend were
the ASU Sun Devils vs. the AZ Heat Destroyers and the SpoFit Spark vs. RHI
Sudden Impact. Although both matches pitted veterans squads against less
experienced teams, the new teams held their own and managed to keep the games
close. ASU and RHI pulled out the victories and would have a showdown of their
own later in the weekend.
As the tournament progressed,
one common theme kept popping up; there were a lot of goals being scored!
Regularly, teams were scoring five or more goals per game! Everyone
was playing hard all weekend, especially Spin, from Minnesota. They only
could travel with three athletes and played their hearts out all weekend long,
finishing in 6th place. It was a great accomplishment, considering their
circumstances!
The four teams from USPSA's top
two conferences, Premier and Champions, met in the semifinals on the last day.
The Ball State Cardinals fell to RHI Sudden Impact 3-1, and the ASU Sun
Devils beat the So Cal Vaqueros 8-1. This meant that in the championship
match, RHI and ASU would play a rematch from the previous day, which ended in a
7-0 ASU win. Both teams were focused and determined to bring home the
title. In the final match, the RHI defense was much tougher and ASU had a
slim 1-0 lead at halftime. In the second half, RHI scored to tie the
match and were hungry to increase their lead. However, ASU answered with a
quick goal and never relinquished the lead, winning 4-1 and taking
home the title.
Power Blast 2013 was a great
success and everyone enjoyed the chance to come to Arizona and soak up the
sunshine. Those of us who live here loved having everyone here and look
forward to the tournament next year!
Tournament MVP: Zach Dickey -
RHI Sudden Impact
Sportsmanship Award: Joey
Christensen - Okanagan Thunderchairs
