Shootout
gives Audi USPA Spring Challenge Trophy
By
Alex Webbe
After pounding the ball up and down the field for the
better part of three hours and ending up in a 10-10 deadlock, the finals of the
2013 USPA Spring Challenge came down to a shoot-out between Audi (Grant Ganzi,
Marc Ganzi, Nic Roldan and Lucas Lalor) and Piaget (Martin Estrada, Brandon
Phillips, Juan Bollini and Gene Goldstein), with Audi riding off the field with
the 11-10 victory.
Audi received one goal by handicap from Piaget and
quickly ran the score up to 2-0 on a goal from Lucas Lalor in the opening 25
seconds of play. Marc Ganzi attempted a
penalty shot that was going wide. Lalor blocked
the errant shot and redirected it through the Piaget goalposts for a goal. Piaget responded with a goal from Gene
Goldstein at the 3:51 mark, 2-1. Nic Roldan
closed out the scoring in the opening chukker with a goal in the final 57
seconds of the period for a 3-1 advantage.
No goals were scored in the first six minutes of the
second chukker as both defenses clamped down.
Brandon Phillips cut into the Audi lead with a goal from the field to
make it 3-2. Roldan preserved the two
goal lead by scoring a goal with seven seconds left on the clock. At the end of the second chukker Audi held on
to a 4-2 lead.
Martin Estrada and Phillips (penalty conversion) added
single goals in the third with Lalor answering back with a goal for Audi. At the end of the first half, Audi led by a
single goal, 5-4.
Fourth chukker action saw Juan Bollini open the second
half with a tying goal from the field, 5-5.
Two minutes later Estrada added another goal to give Piaget their first
lead of the game, 6-5. Roldan scored the
final goal of the chukker, knotting it up at 6-6.
Audi opened up the fifth period with a roar as Roldan
took the ball over 150 yards down the field for a goal, 7-6. Grant Ganzi took a pass from his father, Marc
Ganzi, a minute later and drove it through the goalposts for a score and an 8-6
Audi edge with one chukker left in regulation time.
Lalor flew down the field with the ball in the opening
seconds of the sixth chukker and executed a flawless neck shot just yards from
the end line that split the goalposts for a goal, 9-7. Piaget added goals from Phillips and Bollini to
knot it up at 9-9, followed by another spectacular goal from Lalor that put Audi
back in the lead, 10-9. A goal by
Bollini with 47 seconds left in the game tied it up once again, 10-10, and
forced an overtime shootout.
Audi’s Grant Ganzi took the opening 40-yard shot in the
shootout that went wide. Piaget’s Gene Goldstein’s
following effort also missed the mark, 0-0.
Roldan converted for Audi followed by an attempt by Martin Estrada that
hit the goalpost and failed to score, 1-0.
Lalor made good on his 40-yard shot, 2-0. Phillips kept Piaget’s hopes alive when he
converted his shot, 2-1, but all hopes were abandoned when Marc Ganzi converted
his shot to give Audi a 3-1 lead, with no opportunity for Piaget to come back.
Roldan and Lalor led the Audi attack with four goals
apiece. Grant Ganzi scored once and the
team received one goal by handicap.
Bollini scored four times for Piaget and earned MVP honors for himself. Phillips added three gals; Estrada was
credited with two and Goldstein scored once in the loss.
Halo Polo’s brown mare Rhapsodia, played by Gene Goldstein, was named Best Playing Pony.
PONY
EXPRESS WINS ROUND-ROBIN
Earlier in the afternoon, Pony Express (Bob Daniels,
Justin Daniels, Tomas Goti and Pancho Eddy) needed to rely on net goals to
capture top honors in the consolation round of the USPA Spring Challenge Cup
with each of the three teams ending with 1-1 records in the three-chukker
mini-bouts.
Palm House (Glen Straub, Carlitos Gracida, J. J. Celis
and Tommy Biddle) opened the round-robin by scoring a 6-5 win over ELG (Avery
Chapman, Juancito Bollini, Carlucho Arellano and Kris Kampsen) in a game that
saw Glen Straub, Carlucho Arellano and Tommy Biddle score two goals
apiece. Carlucho Arellano led ELG with
three goals, Kris Kampsen scored twice.
ELG bounced back in the ensuing three chukkers as they
faced Pony Express. Pony Express
received one goal by handicap and managed only a single goal from Tomas Goti in
the team’s 3-2 loss. ELG’s Juancito
Bollini scored twice with Kampsen adding a goal in the win.
Pony Express scored a 5-3 win over Palm House in the
closing three chukkers of play with Pancho Eddy scoring twice and Bob Daniels
and Tomas Goti chipping in single goals.
Pony Express received one goal by handicap. J. J. Celis scored twice for Palm House. Glen Straub added a goal and was named MVP
for his efforts.