Audi continues to Roll in
By Alex Webbe
The Audi polo team continued its winning ways in a 15-9 win over an outgunned Mansour team Friday afternoon at the Santa Barbara Polo Club. The victory boosts Audi (3-0) into Sunday’s finals of the 2009 USPA Lucchese America Cup.
Audi scored early and often in the 4pm contest at the
Kampsen made it 5-0 on another penalty shot in the second frame before Mansour patron Ben Soleimani final got his team on the scoreboard on a goal from the field. Escobar scored once more for Audi and the Wellington-based team left the field with a commanding 6-1 lead after the first fifteen minutes of play.
Audi seemed to shift into low gear in the third chukker as Mansour got its engine running. Two goals from Adam Snow and a penalty conversion from Martin Zegers were complimented by shutout defense, and the Audi led melted to two goals, 6-4 at the end of the first half.
Escobar converted a penalty for the first goal of the fourth chukker followed by Ganzi’s second field goal. Snow retaliated for Mansour but was answered by Kampsen’s fourth goal of the game. Audi led 9-5. Snow and
Ganzi and Escobar added single goals in a fifth chukker that found Mansour struggling for offense. Kampsen scored once from the field and converted another penalty shot for a goal. Snow managed the only score for Mansour as the teams went into the final chukker of play with Audi leading 13-8.
Zegers scored the first goal of the sixth chukker before goals from Ganzi and Escobar closed the door on them in a 15-9 romp.
Kampsen led all scorers with six goals. Escobar added five goals and Ganzi scored four goals from his Number 1 position.
Snow led the Mansour attack with five goals. Zegers scored twice and Soleimani and Trotz accounted for single goals in the loss.
GRANTS FARM 16, VALIENTE 11
Nacho Astrada returned to action earlier in the day for Valiente, but even the experience of the Argentine 9-goaler wasn’t enough to overcome a powerful, well-coordinated Grants Farm (2-1) effort in the final chukker of the game.
Valiente (1-2) stayed close in the opening chukkers with a goal from Carlucho Arellano, but two goals from Sugar Erskine had Grants Farm ahead 2-1.
Valiente got goals from Federico Von Wernich and a penalty conversion from Arellano in the second period, but Erskine exploded for three goals and kept Grants Farm in the lead 5-3.
Jeff Hall scored three times for Grants Farm in the third chukker as Valiente cut the lead to a single goal. Von Wernich and Astrada each scored a pair of goals and the first half ended with Grants Farm holding an 8-7 advantage.
After sitting out the last two tournaments as a result of an injured riding muscle, Nacho Astrada seemed to be making up for lost time in the fourth period. The Argentine 9-goaler scored three goals while the Valiente defense held Grants Farm to a single penalty goal from Hall. For the first time all day, Valiente led, 10-9, with two chukkers to play.
Arellano scored from the field to give Valiente an 11-9 edge, but following a defensive foul in the Valiente goal area, Hall responded with a penalty goal, and the chukker ended with Grants Farm still trailing by a goal, 11-10.
Whether it was the strength of the Grants Farm string or a mental let down by Valiente, or the three technical penalties on Astrada, the final period of play was all Grants Farm. Hall made it look easy as he scored five of his game high ten goals in the sixth chukker. Fittingly, team captain Andy Busch scored the final goal from the field in the 16-11 win.
LUCCHESE 14, ERG 12
In a game that was rife with penalties (25), Lucchese (2-1) scored a 14-12 win over previously undefeated ERG (2-1) team to earn its way into Sunday’s finals of the USPA Lucchese America Cup against Audi.
Led by America’s highest rated player, 9-goaler Mike Azzaro, Lucchese sparred with a talented ERG team in the opening two chukkers, trailing 4-3 after the first seven minutes of play and then taking a 6-5 lead after the second period.
Azzaro and Julio Gracida each scored a pair of goals in the third chukker while the Lucchese defense held ERG scoreless. Lucchese led 10-5 at the half and would never trail again.
Paco de Narvaez scored the only two goals of the fourth chukker in an effort to get ERG back into the game, but Azzaro responded in the fifth with three more goals. Jeff Blake and de Narvaez scored single goals in response, but left the field trailing Lucchese 13-9.
Gonzalo Deltour scored his third goal of the game to open the final chukker, followed by a penalty conversion from de Narvaez. Score: Lucchese 13, ERG 11. Andres Weisz scored from the field for Lucchese to make it 14-11 with de Narvaez accounting for the final goal in the 14-12 contest.
PATAGONES 12, ZACARA 9
Carlos Gracida showed the form that made him an international champion for so many years as he set the pace for Patagones (2-1) with eight goals on its way to a Friday morning win over Lyndon Lea’s Zacara (0-3) foursome.
Zacara got opening goals from Miguel Astrada and Lea before Gonzalo Avendano got Patagones on the scoreboard with a goal from the field. Two goals from Gracida made it 3-2, Patagones, at the end of the first chukker.
Two more goals from Gracida had Zacara trailing 5-2 after the first two periods as a smothering defense held Lea and company scoreless.
Nico Pieres converted a penalty shot to get the third chukker started, followed by goals from Lea and Astrada to tie the game at 5-5. In international form, Gracida scored the go-ahead goal from the field to end the first half with Patagones clinging to a 6-5 advantage.
Astrada tied it at 6-6 to open the fourth period before Patagones answered with goals from Brandon Phillips and Gonzalo Avendano to reclaim the lead, 8-6.
Three fifth chukker goals from Patagones put the game out of reach as Zacara struggled to regain its composure. Astrada converted a penalty shot and Lea accounted for his third goal of the game, but the chukker ended with Patagones leading 11-8.
Gracida’s eighth goal of the game came on a 40-yard penalty shot with Astrada accounting for the final score of the game in a 12-9 Patagones victory.
Sunday’s 3pm finals of the 2009 USPA Lucchese America Cup will feature Audi (3-0) and Lucchese (2-1). Grants Farm (2-1) meets Patagones (2-1) at 1pm and a pair of 10am matches will feature Mansour (0-3) vs. Zacara (0-3); and Valiente (1-2) vs. ERG (2-1).