2008 Paralympic Games

Day 2 - Sept. 8

The U.S. Men's Goalball team is still hopeful even after losing 2-8 against Canada.

"Our expectation as a team is high; our goal is to be on the medal stand" said U.S. Team assistant coach Michael Lege (Elkton, Fla.), "We just need to position ourselves a little better; it's just a matter of adjusting our defense, maintaining our composure.  We certainly have trained hard and we look forward to the rest of the competition."

"Right now there is more pressure to produce offensively," said Donte Mickens (Tallahassee, Fla.), "We just need to win the next three games to advance; in Athens we came out of preliminaries with two losses, two wins and one tie to eventually win the bronze medal, so it's not over, until it's over."

The  U.S. team is led by veterans Chris Dodds (Logan, Utah), starting center, and Donte Mickens (Tallahassee, Fla.), who were both part of the 2004 Athens Paralympic Team along with Tyler Merren (Kalamazoo, Mich.) and Eddie Munro (St. Augustine, Fla.). Newcomers Daryl Walker (Jacksonville, Fla.) and Steve Denuyl (Kalamazoo, Mich.)

The 2008 Paralympic Men's Goalball competition still has preliminary games with Iraq, Brazil and Sweden. The top four teams after pool play advance to the semifinal and final rounds on Sept. 14.