Club Ministros won the NACHC Club Title on Saturday, defeating Mexican club rivals, Club Vikingos, 23-22 in an exciting contest that wasn’t decided until the final minute. The match started out evenly with Vikingos holding a narrow 7-6 lead with 19 minutes played, but the remainder of the half was dominated by Vikingos. Following an empty net goal by MVP GK Aaron Cruz the Vikings had a 14-8 lead at the break and seemed to be in full control of the match.
The 2nd half saw the Vikings initially extend their lead to 7 goals (15-8), but Club Ministros fought back and gradually cut into the lead outscoring the Vikings 10-3 over the next 10 minutes. Following a goal by Yael Urbina with 13:35 left they had indeed come all the way back to tie the score at 18-18.
The remaining 13 minutes of the match was a seesaw affair with neither side leading by more than 1 goal. With 3 minutes remaining Ministros’ Jesus Rivera scored to tie the match 22-22. Both teams then missed opportunities to score in their ensuing possessions, but with 38 seconds left Jose Garcia scored for Ministros to give them a 23-22 lead. Following a time out, a nice save by GK Lionel Gloria in the closing seconds secured the match and title for Club Ministros.
In the 3rd place match, last year’s champion San Francisco CalHeat defeated Los Guerrilleros, 32-27. Eloy Rubio, who was also named the Tournament MVP led CalHeat with 10 goals. The Guerilleros were led in scoring by Jorge Nazario with 8 goals. Nazario was also the tournament’s leading scorer with 35 goals.
In addition to securing the NACHC Club title, Club Ministros will also be the NACHC representative at the IHF Super Globe in Saudi Arabia from 17 to 23 October.
For all the results, match reports, links to match videos, photo galleries and more check out the Official Competition Page: Link
