Tournament Summary:

The 2005 Southeast Zone Open Championships for Men and Women

The eighth annual PowerBar Cup was, without a doubt, the most bizarre in the history of the event. It started when Hurricane Katrina crashed over south Florida on Thursday. It ended with a sweeping change and a classic display of sportsmanship. The sweeping change: Miami Water Polo Foundation lost its first ever PowerBar Cup game (35-1 overall) as FIU won the 2005 PowerBar Cup and 2005 USWP Southeast Zone Men’s Champions title. The definition of sportsmanship: defending PowerBar Cup Women’s champion Dynamo WPC forfeited the championship game to Rip Tides to give playing time to Auburn/GT players, who won third place in a forfeit when OWL Women’s Water Polo left the tournament early. This handed the 2005 USWP Southeast Zone Women’s Champions title to Rip Tides. Got all that? Good, because there is a quiz later.

Katrina dumped over 15 inches of rain on south Florida Thursday evening. Although just a shadow of what she’d be on Sunday as she barreled down on New Orleans, several Serpent Warrior homes (but thankfully not players) sustained damage and the team did not travel. This, of course, sent a ripple of four forfeits through the mens tournament. Additional forfeits occurred when one team mis-read the schedule on Sunday morning and another team left early. With 32 total games on the schedule, nine went in the books as forfeits and one as not played when neither team lined up.

That is enough of the “believe it or not.” Here are tournament highlights:

• The Atlanta Rainbow Trout showed continued reward for their efforts to build a winning program. ART scored 7 goals in both their losses to Miami WPF and Dynamo B. Dynamo B scratched out a narrow 9-7 win against ART. Tournament regulars complimented the Trout on their results.
• Georgia Tech and Miami played like two Arena Football League teams in their second round game Saturday evening. They scored an amazing 36 combined goals in just 24 minutes of play. Yes, Virginia, that is a goal every 40 seconds! Tech senior Chris George pumped in eight goals, many off set shots of six or more meters. In the third quarter with Tech down 10-8 and on the ropes, George punched in three goals in less than four minutes. His three plus another Yellowjacket stinger ended the quarter tied 12-12. Miami arms stayed attached long enough to win 20-16 in a true barn burner.
• Someone called the second round game between FIU and Dynamo A the championship game. It wasn’t, but it was arguably the most balanced game amongst the top teams. FIU “let the big dog eat” as their two meter man, John Vasek, led the squad with five goals. The score stayed tight until 1:23 to play in the third. FIU jumped ahead 10-6, paced by two Vasek goals from set in less than 35 seconds. Dynamo worked hard to narrow the gap, even notching a penalty goal with 0:15 to go in the quarter. The combined flurry saw six goals in the final 2:33 of the third and a 10-9 FIU lead at the end. Dynamo went 1-3 on man advantages in the fourth and FIU emerged 12-10 winners.
• The 2005 PowerBar Cup Most Valuable Player award goes to Peter Gordon, Dynamo B goalie. Peter used his long reach, strength, quickness and 30+ years of water polo experience to make many amazing saves and other plays. The crown jewel of his highlight reel came in against USF on Saturday evening. On two occasions Gordon made three rapid-fire blocks and delivered an 8-7 win in front of an appreciative crowd that toasted him with a standing ovation.

Despite the crazy events, another PowerBar Cup is in the books. A special thanks to the teams who played unofficial games in place of the forfeits. They don’t show up on the books but we appreciate the efforts.

Now, take out a No. 2 pencil and paper. It’s time for that quiz...

Game Schedule and Results:

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