Casablanca rallies to win Herbie Pennell Cup
By Alex Webbe
Casablanca (Grant Ganzi,Juancito Bollini, Miguel Novillo Astrada and Nic Roldan) rallied from a fivegoal deficit to score a 13-11 win over a powerful Villa Del Lago team (Jim Zenni,Agustin Obregon, Polito Pieres and Julian de Lusarreta) Sunday afternoon in thefinal of the 20-goal Herbie Pennell Cup at the International Polo Club.
Casablanca made their wayto the final by defeating Coca-Cola (Gillian Johnston, Kris Kampsen, JulioArellano and Mason Wroe) on Friday in semifinal action, 14-6. Villa Del Lago had a more difficult time ofit as they edged Lechuza Caracas (Victor Vargas, Marcos Alberdi, Juan MartinNero and Martin Espain), 10-8.
Villa Del Lago struckearly, with 9-goaler Polito Pieres taking the opening throw-in 150 yards downthe field for the first goal of the game, 1-0. It was nearly five minutes before another goal was scored as Nic Roldantied it with a shot from the field, 1-1.Roldan’s second goal came less than a minutelater, putting Casablanca on top, 2-1. Consecutivegoals from Pieres (one on a 60-yard penalty conversion) ended the first chukkerwith Villa Del Lago leading, 3-2.
A second period infractionby Villa Del Lago sent Miguel Novillo Astrada to the foul line where he scoredon a 40-yard penalty shot to tie the game at3-3. A pair of goals from Agustin Obregon andanother goal from Pieres ended the chukker with Villa Del Lago in command of a6-3 game.
Pieres made it 7-3 in theopening minute of the third chukker as he carried the ball down the field withCasablanca’s Astrada on his hip. JuancitoBollini passed the ball to Astrada and then rode a man out of the play to allowhis teammate to score, cutting the Villa Del Lago lead back to three goals,7-4. Obregon scored on a pass from Piereswith 3:25 left in the period, and Pieres scored his sixth goal of the day for a9-4 advantage. Astrada answered backwith a goal for Casablanca with 45 seconds on the clock but it was Villa DelLago with the 9-5 halftime lead.
Casablanca returned to the fieldin the fourth chukker with a new look. Aswarming defense kept Villa Del Lago off the scoreboard for the first time allday as Casablanca picked up a goal from Juancito Bollini and a pair of goalsfrom Astrada. With two chukkers to playCasablanca had cut the lead to a single goal, 9-8.
Both defenses tightened inthe fifth period with all three goals being scored from the penalty line. Roldan and Pieres traded 30-yard penaltygoals, with Astrada converting from 60-yards out for the final goal of theperiod and a 10-10 tie.
Julian de Lusarreta leftthe ball on the field for a pouncing Astrada in the opening minute of the sixthas the 9-goal Argentine carried it down the field for a go-ahead goal for Casablanca,11-10. Ninety seconds later Roldanscored to put Casablanca ahead by two goals, 12-10. Pieres rallied for a goal with three minutesleft to bring Villa Del Lago to within a goal, 12-11, but a final goal from Astradaat the 1:24 mark ended the threat as Casablanca registered a 13-11 win in the openinghigh-goal tournament of the 2015 season.
“We weren’t marking Polito(Pieres) in the first half,” said Casablanca 8-goaler Nic Roldan. “We were playing too loose, and whenever wehad the ball we gave it away.”
The team made the adjustmentsat halftime and came back with a renewed focus.
“I chewed them out athalftime,” said Marc Ganzi, father of Casablanca’s Grant Ganzi and captain ofthe Audi polo team. “I told Miguel (Astrada) to put Nic (Roldan) on Polito inthe second half, and it paid off.”
In the final three chukkersof the game, Pieres was held to just two goals, one of them on a penalty shotwith Roldan shadowing him for the second half, and separating him from the pack.
Pieres had scored six goalsin the first half but was held to just a pair of goals in the second half (oneon a penalty shot), as the Casablanca team rode on for the victory and thefirst tournament title of the young season.
Astrada led the Casablancaattack with eight goals (two on penalty shots), and was named MVP for hisefforts. His mare, Paulina, received BestPlay Pony honors. Roldan added fourgoals and Bollini scored once for the win. Pieres scored eight times for Villa Del Lago (twice on penalty shots), withObregon getting credited with three goals on the day.
Coca-Cola 12, Lechuza Caracas 11
Earlier in the day Coca-Colaavenged their Friday loss to Casablanca by scoring a 12-11 win over LechuzaCaracas in a 20-goal consolation match.
American 8-goaler JulioArellano got Coca-Cola on the scoreboard first with a goal from the field forthe opening goal of the game. LechuzaCaracas paid no attention, however, scoring three straight goals for the early3-1lead.Argentine 10-goaler Juan Martin Nero tied the game with a goal from thefield at the five minute mark and converted a 60-yard penalty shot less than a minute later to put LechuzaCaracas in the lead, 2-1. A fine effortby Marcos Alberdi stretched the lead to two goals, 3-1, with a goal from the fieldthat ended the first period.
Goals from Coca-Cola’s KrisKampsen and Gillian Johnston tied it at 3-3 in the opening two minutes of thesecond. Alberdi and Johnston tradedgoals in the final three minutes to end the chukker in a 4-4 deadlock.
The third period belongedto Lechuza Caracas as they ran all over Coca-Cola. Nero opened the scoring with a 60-yard penaltyshot followed by goals from Martin Espain and Victor Vargas. Nero closed out the scoring with his secondgoal of the chukker for an 8-4 halftime lead.
Coca-Cola rallied in thefourth behind opening goals from Kampsen and Arellano (30-yard penaltyconversion) to cut the lead to two goals, 8-6. Nero and Arellano exchanged penalty goals to end the chukker withLechuza Caracas sitting on top of a 9-7 score.
Nero scored the first goalof the fifth chukker at the 4:38 mark for a 10-7advantage. Lechuza Caracas teamcaptain Vargas took the ensuing throw-in and raced down the field to score hissecond goal of the day for a four goal, 11-7 lead. Lechuza Caracas fouls allowed Coca-Cola toget back into the game with penalty conversions from Arellano from both the 30and 60-yard lines. With one chukkerremaining in regulation play, Lechuza Caracas remained in the lead, 11-9.
Arellano cut the LechuzaCaracas lead to a single goal with a score at the 6:10 mark of the sixthchukker. The two teams battled up anddown the field until Mason Wroe broke loose with the ball to tie it up with twominutes and thirty-seven seconds on the clock. With neither team able to score, the game wasforced into sudden-death overtime.
After a ten minute intermission,both teams returned to the field to resume play, but the momentum seemed tobelong to Coca-Cola. With less than aminute off the clock, Johnston broke loose with the ball and scored the winninggoal for a 12-11 Coca-Cola victory.
Arellano set the pace forthe Coca-Cola attack with six goals (three on penalty conversions). Johnston scored three times, including thewinning goal; Kampsen was credited with two goals and Wroe scored once for thewin. Nero scored four of his team high six goals on penalty shots. Vargas and Alberdi scored two goalsapiece. Espain scored once.