Kings Hill, TuffRider and Mayer Ranch Win in Tournament Debuts at Palm City Polo Club |
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Palm City Polo played host to a new tournament for both the 3-6 goal league and the 6-10 goal league this past weekend. The teams from Kings Hill, TuffRider and Mayer Ranch all rode to victory with fast-paced, exciting polo play.
Mayer Ranch Leaves Stone Pony Cold Winning 6-4.5
On Saturday in the 6-10 goal league, Mayer Ranch defeated Stone Pony even though the latter started with one and one half goals prior to the start of the match due to handicap. Mayer Ranch scored in every chukker while keeping the opposition to only three goals to win 6-4.5.
Team patron Ken Mayer set the mark scoring the first goal, which was impressive, as he had not played in four months. “I am a little rusty,” said Mayer. “It was only my second day on a horse since October. It was great to be back playing polo. It felt good to score and the horses were playing great.”
Hilary Mroz-Blythe then scored for Stone Pony, which kept them in the lead despite Timmy Sharma’s goal for Mayer Ranch to end the first chukker with a score of 2.5-2.
In the second chukker, Omar Sosa’s goal sent Mayer Ranch into the lead, which they never surrendered. Their excellent defensive play kept the opposition scoreless for a halftime tally of 3-2.5.
Sosa scored again in the third chukker for Mayer Ranch along with Stone Pony’s Geoff Richards to keep them in contention with a half goal deficit. At the end of the chukker, the score was 4-3.5
The final chukker was fast-paced polo with both teams fighting for the conquest. Sharma increased the spread scoring for Mayer, then Mroz-Blythe set it right back to within one and one half goals notching one for Stone Pony. Sharma settled the score slamming the ball once more through the posts for Mayer Ranch to stamp their success at 6-4.5. “The game was awesome,” said Sharma. “Especially when you have great players like Hector (Galindo) and Omar (Sosa) playing on your team. They teach you so much. They both played such great defense and we all tried our best.” Mayer agreed, “It was fast paced-polo. We were hitting the ball pretty well and the horses were playing great. We were undefeated last season so I expect to be undefeated this season as well.”
Mayer Ranch Stone Pony
Ken Mayer A Hilary Mroz-Blythe A.5
Timmy Sharma Geoff Richards B
Omar Sosa 2 Carlos Baez 2
Hector Galindo 5 John Gobin 4
TuffRider Makes a Tournament Rebound to Defeat Greenhill Winery 6-3.5
On Sunday, the TuffRider team played a very different game dominating the match against Greenhill Winery in the 3-6 goal league tournament scoring consistently to triumph 6-3.5.
Greenhill Winery held a temporary lead starting with a half goal due to the handicap. Team patron Timmy Sharma then threw down the gauntlet for TuffRider scoring two consecutive goals in the first chukker while Greenhill Winery blanked.
“It’s a different game where we had to play a different strategy,” said Sharma. “We were on the attack and played really well as a team.”
In the second chukker, Bob Kohn did Sharma one better sending two through the posts and converting a penalty to add three goals to the total count for TuffRider. The goal by Bruce Schreiber gave Greenhill Winery something to cheer about, but they had a lot of catching up to do. At halftime they trailed TuffRider 5-1.5
Kohn scored again for TuffRider in the third chukker increasing the spread 6-1.5. Greenhill Winery rallied in the fourth chukker with goals by Adam Koffler and John Gobin, however the hard-hitting TuffRider team was too far ahead to change the outcome.
“We played well as a team and we backed each other up. If somebody missed a shot someone was right there to pick it up. Teamwork was the name of the game,” said high scorer Kohn. “It’s always fun to play here. The pros keep us in the game. They keep us moving and leave it up to us. Today was just a fun, magnificent day at Palm City Polo. It’s always a good time, win or lose.”
TuffRider Greenhill Winery
Clark Mayer B Bruce Schreiber B
Bob Kohn A Hilary Mroz-Blythe A.5
Timmy Sharma 1 Adam Koffler A
Brad Blake 4 John Gobin 4
Kings Hill Scores in Final Seconds to Beat TuffRider 5-4.5
If Friday’s game of the new 3-6 goal league tournament at Palm City Polo is any indication of the upcoming season, fans will be in for a treat. Kings Hill trailed the entire match to TuffRider until Kevin Brown scored in the final seconds to take the match 5-4.5.
TuffRider came out of the gate strong showing a half goal prior to the start due to handicap and scoring the first two goals by team patron Timmy Sharma and Bob Kohn. TuffRider’s skillful defense kept Kings Hill scoreless and at the end of the first chukker, they led 2.5-0.
The second chukker was a mirror image of the first with Kings Hill scoring two consecutive goals and TuffRider failing to add to the count. This time around, Brown and Chip McKenney each delivered a goal. At halftime, TuffRider still managed to hang onto the lead 2.5-2.
Brown scored his second goal and Geoff Richards notched one in the third chukker to put Kings Hill on top for the first time in the match. Sharma converted a penalty for TuffRider, though it was not enough to take over the lead 4-3.5.
TuffRider came back in the final chukker as Brad Blake recorded his first goal of the match. It looked like they had the game in hand as the clock wound down to mere seconds. Brown surprised them all with a goal before the sound of the horn to give Kings Hill the astounding victory.
“The tournament was off to a great start. It was a hotly contested game,” said Richards. “TuffRider team took us to the very end of the game and we were able to score in the closing seconds to pull out a win.
Kings Hill TuffRider
Kevin Brown B.5 Jacqi Casey A
Chip McKenney A Bob Kohn A
Geoff Richards B Timmy Sharma 1
Jeff Blake 6 Brad Blake 4
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