Piaget wins
Pedro Morrison Memorial Cup
By Alex Webbe
In a
back-and-forth contest that saw the score all even at 5-5 at halftime, Piaget
rallied with six second half goals to capture the 2011 Pedro Morrison Memorial
Cup with an 11-9 win over Flat Out in a hotly contest match.
Played under
a sunny sky and in front of over 100 of Pedro Morrison’s friends and supporters
of the Polo with Pedro fundraising efforts that support so many of the YMCA
projects in Palm Beach County, Piaget 8-goaler Nic Roldan scored six times in
leading his team to the victory.
Piaget got
opening goals from Juan Bollini, Roldan and team captain Marc Ganzi in the
first chukker while Flat Out had to rely on penalty goals from Kris Kampsen and
Joey Casey to keep pace. Piaget took the
early lead, 3-1.
Two more
goals from the field from Roldan in the second chukker were countered by a
penalty goal from Flat Out’s Kampsen, and Piaget left the field after two
periods of play with a 5-3 advantage.
The Flat Out
defense stiffened in the third, shutting down the Piaget attack for the first
timer all day. Kampsen added a penalty
goal and a goal from the field as the first half ended with the game knotted up
in a 5-5 tie.
Ganzi
converted another penalty shot for a goal and teammates Roldan and Juan Bollini
added goals as Piaget re-took the lead.
Flat Out got a single goal from Brandon Phillips and Piaget held an 8-6
edge with two chukkers left to play.
Goals from
Ganzi and Roldan had Piaget up by four goals, 10-6, before Kampsen’s fourth
penalty goal of the match ended the chukker with Flat Out trailing, 10-7.
Flat Out team
captain Paul Knapp cut the Piaget lead to a single goal, 10-9, with a penalty
conversion and a goal from the field, and appeared to have his team poised to
push the game into overtime when Roldan scored his game high sixth goal for the
final 11-9 score and the Piaget win.
“We were
doing real well in the opening chukkers,†said a disappointed Brandon Phillips
of the Flat Out team. “We just lost
control of it in the fourth chukker and couldn’t make it up in the final two
periods of the game.â€
Kampsen
scored five goals for Flat Out.
Teammates Casey and Phillips added single goals and Knapp accounted for
a pair of goals in the loss.
Roldan led
the Piaget attack with six goals, and was named MVP for his efforts. Ganzi scored three times and Bollini added
two goals in the win.
The
six-year-old Chestnut mare, Boca, played by Juan Bollini and owned by Halo Polo
received Best Playing Pony honors.
ELANGENI RANCH 11, NEWPORT 10
In earlier
action, Elangeni Ranch scored an 11-10 win over a contentious Newport foursome
in the consolation round of the Pedro Morrison Memorial Cup.
Newport got
one goal by handicap from the 17-goal Elangeni Ranch team and added a pair of
goals from Timmy Sharma in the opening chukker.
Elangeni Ranch responded with goals from Hector Galindo and Diego Cossio,
but trailed 3-2 after the opening chukker.
Goals from Elangeni
Ranch team captain Brian Street and Sugar Erskine went unanswered as Newport
struggled to find an effective attack.
The chukker ended with Elangeni Ranch taking a narrow 4-3 lead.
Galindo
added a single goal in the third, but was countered by Gene Goldstein’s first
score of the afternoon. Elangeni Ranch
continued to lead by a single goal, 5-4, after the first half of play.
Newport
picked up a pair of goals from Goldstein in the fourth with Sharma converting a
penalty shot for his third goal of the game.
Elangeni Ranch managed single goals from Street and Erskine (penalty
conversion), and the score was all even at 7-7.
Luis Escobar’s
first goal of the game had Newport in front, 8-8, but the lead was
short-lived. Consecutive goals from
Galindo, Erskine and Goldstein broke the game wide open, giving Elangeni Ranch
a 10-8 advantage with one chukker left in regulation time.
Goals from
Erskine and Galindo had Elangeni Ranch ahead, 12-8, with time running out on
Newport. Final goals from Goldstein and Escobar
cut the Elangeni Ranch lead to a single goal, 12-11, but it was a little too
late. In the final minute of play, the Elangeni
Ranch players controlled the ball, preserving their one goal lead and scoring
the 11-10 win.
Erskine
scored four times for Elegani Ranch.
Teammates Street and Galindo added three goals apiece and Cossio scored
once in the victory.
Goldstein led
the Newport offense with four goals.
Sharma added three goals and Escobar scored twice.