Along the Sideboards
By Alex Webbe
August 3, 2009
Patagones scored its first tournament championship win Sunday afternoon at the Santa Barbara Polo Club with a hard-fought 10-9 win over Grants Farm. Lucchese won the subsidiary contest earlier in the day by defeating Audi 9-8.
Patagones charged out to a 4-0 lead after the first chukker of play but needed two penalty goals in the final chukker to down Grants Farm, 10-9, to capture the 2009 Veuve Cliquot Skene Cup Sunday afternoon at the Santa Barbara Polo Club.
“I had no idea who was going to win until the final bell sounded,” said Patagones 5-goaler Brandon Phillips. “Carlos Avendano scored the first three goals of the game and his brother Gonzalo scored for a 4-0 lead after the first seven minutes of the game,” he added.
Patagones went up 5-0 before Grants Farm answered back in the second with two goals from Jeff Hall and a single goal from Sugar Erskine to cut the lead to 5-3.
“They (Grants Farm) really came alive after the second chukker,” said Phillips, as they shut out Patagones in the third and knotted it at 5-5 to end the first half.
Hall converted a Safety (60-yard penalty shot) to give Grants Farm its first lead of the game in the fourth period until Carlos Gracida scored from the field to even it up at 6-6.
Carlos Avendano scored his fourth goal of the game in the fifth chukker, as Patagones took a short-lived 7-6 lead. Hall countered with another goal from the field. Gonzalo Avendano’s third goal of the game had Patagones ahead by a goal until a foul in front the goal gave Hall an easy penalty shot, which he converted to tie it at 8-8.
The final chukker was just as physical as the previous three as both teams struggled for control of the ball.
“They were extremely well-mounted,” said Phillips, “Sugar (Erskine) was pressing, and they were playing very well together. It was anyone’s game.”
Hall scored the go-ahead goal, but moments later Phillips converted a Penalty 2 to even it again, 9-9. Another Patagones charge on goal gave Gracida a five-yard penalty shot, which he converted for the 10-9 lead.
“The final throw-in came with about 40 seconds left in the game,” said Phillips.
Both teams had a couple of rushes towards goal, but the 10-9 score held as time expired, and at the end of the match, Patagones hoisted the 2009 Skene Cup in victory.
Jeff Hall led all scoring with eight goals. Teammate Sugar Erskine added a single goal in the loss.
The Patagones scoring was scattered throughout the entire team, with Carlos Avendano accounting for four goals; Gonzalo Avendano scored three times; Carlos Gracida added two, including the winning goal; and Phillips accounted for the tying goal in the final chukker.
Hall was named MVP, while Carlos Gracida’s five-year-old mare, Ducati received Best Playing Pony honors.
LUCCHESE 9, AUDI 8
Mike Azzaro scored eight goals in the first four chukkers as Lucchese galloped off to a 9-5 lead after four chukkers of play.
A smothering defense held Audi to three penalty goals in the final two periods of play as Lucchese went on to score a 9-8 win in the tournament’s subsidiary contest.
Play in the USPA Lucchese America Cup will begin on Friday, August 7 in an eight-team field.
Four games are scheduled for play on opening day with action slated to begin at 10 am between Patagones and Lucchese. Zacara will be playing its first tournament game of the
BRIDGEHAMPTON POLO CLUB-White Birch (4-0) remains the only undefeated team in Mercedes-Benz Cup play at the Bridgehampton Polo Club as all six teams have spent the early part of the summer season dodging rain drops and wet fields.
Previously unbeaten Great Oaks (2-1) suffered its first loss, falling to a Certified (1-3) team that entered the Saturday match without a win. The 10-9 Certified win hurt Great Oaks’ chances of meeting White Birch in the August 8 finals with Cinque Terre/Heathcote carrying a 2-1 record and with a scheduled Tuesday match with White Birch.
Wednesday Mercedes-Benz Cup play has Equuleus (2-2) slated to face Cinque Terre/Heathcote while Black Watch (0-4) will meet Certified.
Following the Mercedes-Benz Cup finals, action will begin in the Hampton Cup, August 9-22.
INTERNATIONAL POLO CLUB-It has been learned that due to the excitement surrounding the 2009 Westchester Cup the club is planning on staging another international contest with the four top players in the United States facing a like-handicapped team from Argentina.
It is still undetermined how the IPC takeover of the Outback League will affect area clubs, but there appears to be no shortage of players and fields for the coming season.
IPC is looking at its high-goal ranks swelling this season with Adolfo Cambiaso returning to the Crab Orchard team and the arrival of Bob Jornayvaz’s entry from
Full schedules are being organized at the Port Mayaca Polo Club while Gulfstream continues to struggle to reorganize its program for the 2010 season.