White Birch and Heathcote remain undefeated in East Coast
Open
By
Alex Webbe
White Birch (Joaquin Panelo, Julian de Luzarreta, Matias
Magrini and Peter Brant) and Heathcote (Steve Lefkowitz, Naco Taverna, Tommy
Biddle and Nick Manifold) remained undefeated in 2-13 East Coast Open play at
the Greenwich Polo Club as both teams notched their second wins in as many
outings.
The field of four teams includes White Birch, Heathcote, Cinque
Terre (Alessandro Bazzoni, Gringo Colombres, Joao Ganon and Brandon Phillips)
and Airstream (Peter Orthwein, Kris Kampsen, Guille Aguero and Mariano
Gonzalez), with the tournament winner being decided on the best record in the
four team bracket.
White Birch took care of business in the morning game by
registering an 11-10 win over a resilient Airstream entry, but it took an
overtime period to do it.
White Birch surged out to a mercurial first chukker lead
on three goals from Argentine 8-goaler Matias Magrini (two on penalty shots)
and single goals from the field from Joaquin Panelo and Julian de
Luzarreta. Airstream was unable to
break through a stubborn White Birch defense and trailed 5-0 after the first
period of play.
Panelo’s second goal of the game had White birch up, 6-0,
before Airstream responded. Kampsen
scored once from the field and once on a penalty shot while teammate Guille
Aguero added a goal. White Birch
continued to hold the lead, but Airstream took a bite out of it and trailed by
only three goals, 6-3.
Third chukker goals by Aguero and Kampsen went unanswered
as the Airstream defense smothered ensuing White Birch attacks. At the end of the first half White Birch
struggled to hold on with a 6-5 edge.
Airstream shut out the White birch attack for the second
consecutive chukker. Three more goals
gave the lead to Airstream for the first time all day. Kampsen, Aguero and Mariano Gonzalez each
scored a goal as Airstream cruised out to an 8-6 lead.
Fifth chukker goals from Magrini and de Luzarreta tied it
up at 8-8. A 30-yard penalty conversion
from Kampsen gave the lead back to Airstream, 9-8, as the period ended.
White Birch got on the scoreboard with a tying goal from
de Luzarreta, 9-9. Kampsen responded
with his sixth goal of the game to take the lead back for Airstream, 10-9. With time running out, an Airstream foul sent
Magrini to the penalty line where he converted the shot for a tying goal,
10-10, forcing sudden-death overtime.
In the overtime chukker, de Luzarreta broke free of the
Airstream defense to score the winning goal for White Birch.
Kampsen led all scoring with six goals (three on penalty
shots). Aguero added three and Gonzalez
was credited with one goal in the loss.
Magrini scored five times for White Birch (three on penalty shots). De Luzarreta added four goals and Panelo scored
twice in the win.
HEATHCOTE
11, CINQUE TERRE 8
Heathcote received two goals by handicap from the 19-goal
Cinque Terre lineup and promptly added to it.
A miserly Heathcote defense kept Cinque Terre from scoring in the
opening chukker while Tommy biddle converted a pair of penalty shots for
goals. Heathcote rode into the second
chukker with a 4-0 lead,
Cinque Terre came back in the second period with
consecutive goals from Alessandro Bazzoni, Brandon Phillips (a 60-yard penalty
conversion) and Gringo Colombres. Heathcote was unable to score in the chukker
but continued to lead, 4-3.
Phillips tied it up in the third with his second penalty
conversion of the day, 4-4. Biddle
answered back with a penalty goal of his own and a goal from the field. At the end of the first half Heathcote held a
6-4 advantage.
Phillips added a pair of goals for Cinque Terre (one on a
penalty shot) but Biddle kept Heathcoat in the lead with his fourth penalty
goal of the game. Cinque Terre continued
to trail, but cut the lead to a single goal, 7-6.
Three fifth chukker goals extended the Heathcote lead to three
on a pair of goals from Biddle (one on a penalty shot) and a goal from the
field from Naco Taverna. Bazzoni scored
the only goal of the chukker for Cinque Terre.
Heathcote left the field at the end of the fifth chukker on the winning
end of a 10-7 score.
Biddle converted his sixth penalty goal of the day on a
40-yard conversion, 11-7. Joao Ganon
scored the final goal of the game for Cinque Terre in an 11-8 loss.
Biddle led all scoring with eight goals (six on penalty
conversions). Taverna added a goal and
Heathcote received two goals by handicap.
Phillips scored four goals for Cinque Terre (three on penalty
shots). Bazzoni added two goals and
Colombres and Ganon each scored once in the loss.
Taverna was named MVP while Lucrecia (owned by Los Machitos) and played by Alessandro Bazzoni,
received Best Playing Pony honors.