Casablanca Shuts Out
Newport to Capture USPA North American Cup
WELLINGTON, FL, November 20, 2020— Casablanca defeated Newport by 14-9 to triumph in the USPA North American Cup.
The USPA North American Cup final saw 17-goal Newport (Gene Goldstein, Sugar Erskine, Michel Dorignac and Juan Bollini) go up against 18-goal Casablanca (Grant Ganzi, Henry Porter, Juancito Bollini, and Nic Roldan) on Wednesday at Santa Rita Polo Farm. Newport started the match with one goal on the board due to the difference in team handicaps.
The match got off to a fast start, with Nic Roldan taking possession of the ball to score within the first 30 seconds. Henry Porter followed up with his first goal of the day, a harbinger of things to come. After Newport’s Sugar Erskine knocked the ball past the boards, Roldan took advantage of the possession play to fire a shot on goal. The chukker ended 3-1 with Newport unable to score. Michel Dorignac put the first goal on the board for Newport, with Juancito Bollini answering to bring the score up to 4-2 for Casablanca. At 3 minutes, Erskine shot to end the chukker 4-3 for Casablanca.
Just over a minute into play in the third chukker, Roldan dodged a hook from Erskine and scored with an open backshot. Ganzi scored on a penalty three, only the second foul of the match, followed up by another goal from Roldan on a breakaway. Erskine ended the chukker on another breakaway with a cut shot to goal. The half ended 7-4 for Casablanca.
Erskine put the first goal of the second half on the board, with an answer from Juancito Bollini. The fourth chukker ended 8-5 for Casablanca, while the fifth period saw Casablanca achieve a commanding lead. Ganzi broke away to put the ball through, bringing the score to 9-5. Goldstein scored a neat goal at the posts, and then pushed Nic Roldan wide to allow Erskine a clear trip downfield to bring the score to 9-7, the
closest margin of the game.
Just as things were potentially looking up for Newport, Henry Porter came alive to score three consecutive goals, putting Casablance ahead 12-7. In the final chukker, Ganzi scored on another penalty three, and Roldan found the goal one last time to bring Casablanca up to 14. Despite goals by Erskine and Dorignac, Casablanca prevailed with a final score of 14-9.
Nic Roldan was named MVP, while Tessita, played by Erskine in the fourth chukker, was named Best Playing Pony.
The Just for the Fun of It match featured the runners-up from the USPA North American Cup. Sebucan (Pablo Pulido, Pablo Spinacci, Horacio Heguy, and Brandon Phillips) went up against La Indiana (Michael Bickford, Jeff Hall, Kris Kampsen, and Nick Manifold) at Bickford’s La Indiana Polo Farm.
Horacio Heguy started the match off by puting Sebucan on the board, while Kampsen scored the first goal for La Indiana with a successful penalty five shot. Pablo Spinacci scored to end the chukker 2-1 for Sebucan. La Indiana ramped up the pressure in the second period, with Kampsen and Manifold scoring while holding off efforts by Sebucan to get on the board and taking the lead at 3-2. Sebucan retaliated with a strong defense in the third chukker and La Indiana was unable to make any headway while Spinacci scored again and Brandon Phillips successfully converted a penalty 6.
The half ended 4-3 for Sebucan. La Indiana came out fighting in the second half, with Kampsen and Bickford scoring while holding Sebucan at bay and taking the lead at 5-4. In the fifth chukker, each team managed to score only on penalties. Bickford successfully converted a penalty three, as did Brandon Phillips. Going into the final period, La Indiana held a narrow lead of 6-5. Kampsen brought the score up to 7 while La Indiana’s defense once again kept Sebucan off the goal. La Indiana won the day with a final score of 7-6. Kris Kampsen was the high scoring player, racking up a total of four goals.