{"id":7430,"date":"2019-05-30T07:46:27","date_gmt":"2019-05-30T14:46:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.calheat.com\/wp\/?p=7430"},"modified":"2019-05-30T07:50:02","modified_gmt":"2019-05-30T14:50:02","slug":"sf-calheat-men-is-the-2019-us-national-champion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.calheat.com\/index.php\/sf-calheat-men-is-the-2019-us-national-champion","title":{"rendered":"SF CalHeat Men is the 2019 US National Champion"},"content":{"rendered":"

The wait is now over! 29 years after its last gold medal, San Francisco CalHeat Men conquers the National title in one of the most epic and thrilling finals of the last decade. The \u2018golden boys\u2019 finished this season with an impressive 23-0-1 run, winning all major events (M. Lipov Memorial Cup, Texas Cup, California Cup, West Coast and US Nationals).<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The tournament started pretty softly with wins over New York City 2 (32-20) and DC Diplomats (32-28), however, our team was then set to play the very best in the nation. In the last round robin game, crucial for determining the semifinal crossover, our team went on to defeat New York Athletic Club (29:26) – something that hasn\u2019t happened since 2003. Then, the semifinal against our state rival, Los Angeles THC. The team started fast and furious, leading up 4:0, 6:2 and 12:7 but allowed the South Californians to come close at half-time (14:11). Los Angeles pushed even further through the tournament\u2019s Most Valuable Player, Gil Pires, to come one goal close (19:18), but the boys stood strong and regained back the control of the game in the last quarter to close up on a convincing 28-23 victory.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

On Sunday, it was time for the big final against the 8-time champions, New York City. The World\u2019s Handball Club dominated the U.S. national scene in the past decade, and recently qualified for the IHF Super Globe event. Many wondered how this final game would look, especially having in mind last year\u2019s championship game, easily won by the Gotham Boys (31-18). But this year, it was different. The team started strong in defense and Florian Schoebinger was ready to match up against the great Benjamin Briffe. The two teams played goal by goal, until New York took a 3 goal lead that seemed inevitable at half time. But, no. SF Calheat fought back and in the final seconds took a one goal lead thanks to a 10-meter shot by Zuwed Akuro.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The second half seemed like a copy cut of the first one and the game went on goal by goal. Stefan Lang (New York City) was particularly efficient scoring 9 goals in 15 minutes while SF Calheat remained in the game thanks to some amazing executions from Eloy Rubio, Florian Schoebinger and Nicolas Raemy. But our team collapsed little by little and allowed New York City to take a 3 goal lead a couple minutes before the end, and a last time out that clearly turned out the game. In those last minutes, Lucas Kroeger saved important shots from 6 meters, and Soeren Mueller and Nicolas Raemy brought back the team from the dead to take a surprising 1 goal lead less than a minute left in the game (29-30). That same Nicolas Raemy stole a long pass from Benjamin Briffe and went on alone in fast break to give SF Calheat the victory despite a final goal from New York City. That was it, our boys are now US National Champions and automatically qualified for the upcoming Super Globe Qualifier (May\/June 2020 – TBD) and 2020 US Nationals.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Congrats to this incredible group of players and their staff: Lucas Kroeger, Omar Bentahar, Daniel Hundt, Raphael Renault, Francis Brero, Antoine Gautier, Soeren Mueller, Vilmos Urban, Eloy Rubio, Alexandre El-Assad, Slave Jovanovski, Florian Schoebinger, Zuwed Akuro, Nicolas Raemy, Danilo Rojevic (coach), Dr. Brad Barez (medical\/athletic trainer)<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nLink to the Men’s Elite Division Final: https:\/\/youtu.be\/5cv0K2b8Bpo<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The wait is now over! 29 years after its last gold medal, San Francisco CalHeat Men conquers the National title in one of the most epic and thrilling finals of the last decade. The \u2018golden boys\u2019 finished this season with an impressive 23-0-1 run, winning all major events (M. Lipov Memorial Cup, Texas Cup, California […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18269,"featured_media":7433,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[33,31,7],"tags":[196,44,136,197],"class_list":["post-7430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-carrousel","category-event","category-tournament","tag-gold","tag-handball","tag-nationals","tag-new-york-city"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.calheat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/61453369_10156113418286957_234165482448486400_n.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7INHg-1VQ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6315,"url":"https:\/\/www.calheat.com\/index.php\/sf-calheat-brings-back-silver-from-dallas","url_meta":{"origin":7430,"position":0},"title":"SF Calheat brings back Silver from Dallas","author":"Michelle Mensing","date":"December 6, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"One month after competing at the Michael Lipov Memorial Cup in Chicago, our men's team attended the first edition of the Texas Cup in Dallas. This tournament, co-organized by Dallas THC and Houston Handball Firehawks, was another opportunity to play competitive games against some of the top teams in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/www.calheat.com\/index.php\/category\/blog"},"img":{"alt_text":"Team Photo of the CalHeat men team in front of a handball goal","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.calheat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Texas-cup-second-place.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.calheat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Texas-cup-second-place.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.calheat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Texas-cup-second-place.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.calheat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Texas-cup-second-place.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.calheat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Texas-cup-second-place.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7840,"url":"https:\/\/www.calheat.com\/index.php\/the-us-handball-season-before-covid-19","url_meta":{"origin":7430,"position":1},"title":"The US handball season before COVID-19","author":"admin","date":"May 6, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"February 23. The sun shines through the desert. Arizona prepares to welcome a hot summer. The Valley of the Sun tournament concludes. Our men's team is packing and heading to the airport, on their way back to the Bay Area. 3 weeks later, our lives suddenly changed... In many ways,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/www.calheat.com\/index.php\/category\/blog"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.calheat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/82980652_10157120846009353_3601656078598668288_o.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.calheat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/82980652_10157120846009353_3601656078598668288_o.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.calheat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/82980652_10157120846009353_3601656078598668288_o.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.calheat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/82980652_10157120846009353_3601656078598668288_o.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.calheat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/82980652_10157120846009353_3601656078598668288_o.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3589,"url":"https:\/\/www.calheat.com\/index.php\/sf-calheat-men-goes-east-to-grab-a-ticket-for-the-u-s-elite-nationals","url_meta":{"origin":7430,"position":2},"title":"SF CalHeat Men goes East to grab a ticket for the U.S. Elite Nationals","author":"Martin Bilello","date":"March 28, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"This weekend, our first men's team will travel to the East Coast to attend the CPT Scott L. Pace Memorial Tournament in West Point, NY. SF CalHeat will have the privilege to play the 2016 U.S. Nationals Champion, New York Athletic Club, and the tournament organizer, West Point Black. Other\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/www.calheat.com\/index.php\/category\/blog"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.calheat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/18590894_1488411100.4102.jpg?fit=600%2C399&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.calheat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/18590894_1488411100.4102.jpg?fit=600%2C399&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.calheat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/18590894_1488411100.4102.jpg?fit=600%2C399&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5747,"url":"https:\/\/www.calheat.com\/index.php\/sf-calheat-women-went-to-usath-open-nationals-2017","url_meta":{"origin":7430,"position":3},"title":"SF CalHeat Women went to USATH Open Nationals 2017","author":"Martin Bilello","date":"June 14, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"For this year\u2019s nationals, the SF CalHeat women team traveled to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina with high hopes of performing well and accomplishing a better standing than the previous season. This year Calheat had a full roster of very strong players from different nationalities; it is always great to see\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog"","block_context":{"text":"Blog","link":"https:\/\/www.calheat.com\/index.php\/category\/blog"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.calheat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/SFCalHeatWomenTeam2017Carrousel.jpg?fit=600%2C400&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.calheat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/SFCalHeatWomenTeam2017Carrousel.jpg?fit=600%2C400&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.calheat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/SFCalHeatWomenTeam2017Carrousel.jpg?fit=600%2C400&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7123,"url":"https:\/\/www.calheat.com\/index.php\/calheat-mens-team-brings-gold-from-chicago","url_meta":{"origin":7430,"position":4},"title":"CalHeat Men\u2019s Team brings gold from Chicago","author":"Michelle Mensing","date":"November 3, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"After two months of preparation, our senior team was kicking off their season at the 2018 Michael Lipov Memorial Cup in Chicago from 10\/26 to 10\/28. With very high ambitions this season and with several new additions to the roster, the men\u2019s team flew to Chicago with high hopes, but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Carrousel"","block_context":{"text":"Carrousel","link":"https:\/\/www.calheat.com\/index.php\/category\/carrousel"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.calheat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/IMG_3783.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.calheat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/IMG_3783.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.calheat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/IMG_3783.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.calheat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/IMG_3783.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.calheat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/IMG_3783.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8813,"url":"https:\/\/www.calheat.com\/index.php\/sf-calheat-wins-the-2022-mn-fall-classic","url_meta":{"origin":7430,"position":5},"title":"SF Calheat Wins the 2022 MN Fall Classic","author":"admin","date":"October 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"First tournament. First win. Who could have predicted it? For our second participation in the MN Fall Classic, we had the ambition to reach the final of the tournament. The competition was there with last year's tournament winner Chicago Inter and the always tough-to-beat New York Athletic Club. 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