Wins by Palm Beach Illustrated and Tonkawa set the final for the Iglehart Cup
By Alex Webbe
CT Energia (Alessandro Bazzoni, Nick Manifold, Joao Ganon and Kris Kampsen) scored first in Tuesday morning’s Iglehart Cup semifinal against Palm Beach Illustrated (Tommy Collingwood, Facundo Obregon and Michel Dorignac), but it was a great team effort on behalf of Palm Beach Illustrated that carried a 4-2 halftime lead to a 10-7 victory at the International Polo Club.
After a couple of near goals by Palm Beach Illustrated, Nick Manifold drove the ball through the goalposts for the first score and a 1-0 lead. Facundo Obregon converted on a 40-yard penalty shot halfway through the chukker to tie it at 1-1. Palm Beach Illustrated took the lead on a goal from Tommy Collingwood with two minutes left in the period, and never trailed. At the end of the first chukker Palm Beach Illustrated held a 2-1 lead.
Brazilian 7-goaler Joao Ganon tied it at 2-2 in the first minute of play the second period. Palm Beach Illustrated missed a couple more shots on goal, and the period ended with no more scoring from either side.
Palm Beach Illustrated finally settled into a rhythm in the third. Goals from Michel Dorignac and Facundo Obregon (penalty goal) went unanswered. At the end of the first half Palm Beach Illustrated owned a 4-2 lead.
Collingwood lit it up in the fourth chukker with a well-executed goal shot for a three goal, 5-2 lead. A minute later, Manifold blazed down the field on a run at the Palm Beach Illustrated goal, losing control of the ball in front of the goal mouth where Ganon drove it through to cut the lead back to two goals, 5-3. Facundo Obregon closed out the scoring with a goal from the field with 1:03 on the clock. After four periods, Palm Beach Illustrated were on the winning end of a 6-3 score.
Consecutive goals from Kris Kampsen and team captain Alessandro Bazzoni had CT Energia knocking on the door, trailing Palm Beach Illustrated by a single goal, 6-5. Dorignac and Bazzoni traded goals, with CT Energia just a goal off the lead, 7-6, when the rally stalled. A final goal from Dorignac ended the period with Palm Beach Illustrated in front by two goals, 8-6.
Dorignac scored a pair of goals that had Palm Beach Illustrated leading by four goals with 2:25 left in regulation play. Ganon managed a final goal for CT Energia, but it was Palm Beach Illustrated who celebrated the 10-7win and a berth in Saturday afternoon’s 3pm final.
Tonkawa 13, Villa Del Lago 8
In a game that started out looking like the Polito Pieres Show, Tonkawa (Gonzalo Deltour, Jeff Hildebrand, Inaki Laprida and Jeff Blake) broke open a 6-6 halftime tie to dominate the final three chukkers of play for a 13-8 win in the second Iglehart Cup semifinal of the day.
Villa Del Lago (Jim Zenni, Agustin Obregon, Polito Pieres and Julian de Lusarreta) 9-goaler Polito Pieres was everywhere in the opening chukker, scoring two of his three first chukker goals on penalty shots. The Villa Del Lago held Tonkawa scoreless for a 3-0 advantage.
Pieres made it 4-0 with his fourth goal of the game when the CT offense came alive. Gonzalo Deltour scored Tonkawa’s first goal of the game after over four minutes of play in the second period, 4-1. Consecutive 30-yard penalty conversions ended the chukker with Tonkawa within a goal of the lead, 4-3.
Jeff Blake’s first goal of the day tied the game in the opening 30 seconds of the third chukker, 4-4. Deltour scored back-to-back goals as Tonkawa took the lead, 6-4, with less than three minutes left in the first half. Agustin Obregon cut into the Tonkawa lead with a goal from the field at 1:05, and Pieres capitalized on a Tonkawa foul by scoring on a 30-yard penalty shot for a goal and a 6-6 tie score.
Tonkawa continued to pile it on in the fourth. Two goals from Inaki Laprida and a goal from Blake gave Tonkawa a two goals lead, 9-7. Villa Del Lago came up with a goal from Julian de Lusarreta, but trailed by two goals.
Deltour and his Tonkawa teammates controlled the fifth period. Deltour was on fire as he scored three consecutive goals. The Tonkawa managed to quiet the Villa Del Lago and stretch their lead to five goals, 12-7.
Tonkawa was content to take a defensive stance in the final seven minutes of the game. With 1:29 on the clock, Obregon scored the final goal of the game as Tonkawa recorded the 13-8 win and earned a spot in the tournament final against Palm Beach Illustrated.