Zacara falls to Mt. Brilliant, 13-5
By Alex Webbe
With a playoff berth assured and nothing on the line, Zacara (3-1) did little more than exercise their horses while Mt. Brilliant put on a display of the potential they had been flirting with all year long, 13-5, in its final Ylvisaker Cup contest at the International Polo Club in Wellington Saturday afternoon.
“We accomplished what we wanted to,†said Mt. Brilliant coach, Julian Hipwood. “We worked on ball control and passing,†said the former 9-goaler, “and got every player involved in the game.â€
Mt. Brilliant had four goals up on the scoreboard at the end of the second chukker and was into the third period of play before Zacara found any offense.
Toto Collardin and Jeff Hall each drove a shot through the Mt. Brilliant goal posts before Santiago Chavanne scored his second goal of the game for Mt. Brilliant. Gonzalo del Tour cut the Mt. Brilliant lead to 5-3 on his first goal of the game, and Hall’s second goal of the chukker had Zacara trailing by a single goal, 5-4, at the end of the first half.
The fourth and fifth chukkers, however, were all Mt. Brilliant.
Bo Goodman scored the opening goal of the fourth followed by a single goal from teammate IFrancisco Irasturza. Two more Goodman goals were complimented by another goal from Chavanne for a commanding 10-4 advantage.
The fifth chukker was not much better for Zacara, with two more goals from Chavanne and another goal from Goodman.
Gonzalo del Tour closed out the scoring with a goal for Zacara, but the score was of little consolation. Mt. Brilliant shutout the Zacara attack for four chukkers in the match and seemed to score at will.
“I don’t think Lyndon (Lyndon Lea, captain of the Zacara team) would have minded losing by a goal or two,†said Hipwood, “but he can’t be happy being beaten by eight goals.â€
Goodman and Chavanne led the scoring on the day with five goals apiece. Teammate Francisco Irasturza scored twice and Chris Nevins added a goal in the victory.
Jeff Hall and Gonzalo del Tour scored two goals apiece for Zacara. Toto Collardin scored once.