Brightvale vs. Virtupets (15 Jun 2007)
Despite lacking the level of anticipation of this week's higher-profile matches, Thursday's contest between Brightvale and the Virtupets Space Station pitted a pair of evenly-matched squads against each other. Which would prevail?
The game was a hard-fought stalemate in the early going, with neither side giving an inch. Brightvale's aggressive (and no-longer-so-surprisingly clean) style made gradual progress in wearing down their Space Station opponents, while Virtupets' arsenal of elaborate offensive sets occasionally flustered King Hagan's crew and created quality scoring chances. Goals were few and far between, with the score dead even as the game reached its midway point.
From then on, however, the fatigue of the Space Station's players became far more noticeable. Mental mistakes increased in frequency, defenders lost a step or two on their rotations, and Brightvale pulled further and further ahead. Rather than mounting a comeback, the Virtupets players struggled just to keep the match close. In the end, despite a valiant effort by Keetra Deile and her Space Station teammates, the Brightvale squad pulled away to post an impressive victory.
The tournament's auxiliary competitions, on the other hand, were far less competitive, with Brightvale's followers holding a decided advantage in slushie serving and noise making throughout the day. So then, despite a thrilling Yooyuball contest in the Altador Coliseum, when the smoke cleared this pairing resulted in an across-the-board win for the Brightvale team and their fans.