Team Canada loses to the U.S. in goalball semifinals

The game came down to the last shot, but Canada wasn't able to win the men's goalball semifinal match against the U.S. on Friday.

Goalball is a game played by athletes who have visual impairments, using a ball with bells inside.

To play, "[t]wo teams of three face off on an indoor court with tactile lines and goals at either end. Because athletes must hear the ball and be able to concentrate, spectators are asked to remain silent during the game but are free to cheer when a goal is scored", the official website of the Parapan Am Games states.

Team Canada was up 1-0 at the end of the first half of Friday's game. At the end of regulation time, it was tied 2-2 with the U.S. team, forcing a sudden death overtime. 

The U.S. scored the winning goal, sending that team to the finals to play Brazil, who went undefeated.

However, New Brunswick's Simon Richard and the rest of the Canadian goalball team will still have a shot at a medal on Saturday, when they play Argentina for the bronze — a team Canada defeated 7-2 when they met in round robin competition.

"They're not a team we should take lightly," said Richard. 

"We just have to go and take it one ball at a time and do our job."

Saturday's game against Argentina is critical for the Canadians, because winning will guarantee a spot at the Rio Paralympics in 2016.

But Richard says he doesn't feel there is any extra pressure.

"At the end of the day it's just another goalball game so we just have to focus on that," he said.

Goalball made its debut at the Paralympic Games in 1976, but was invented in 1946 as a rehabilitation sport for blind veterans of the Second World War.