Audi takes round-robin with wins over Grand Champions and Elangeni Ranch
By Alex Webbe
Audi scored wins over Grand Champions (8-3) and Elangeni Ranch (3-1) Thursday afternoon in round-robin competition in the 2011 Spring Classic at the Grand Champions Polo Club Thursday afternoon.
Inclement weather forced a change of venues as the competition was relocated at the Palm City Polo Club in Boca Raton with three of the tournament’s six teams participating in opening play.
Grand Champions opened the scoring against Elangeni Ranch with a goal from the field from Franco Verones, but Elangeni Ranch’s Juan Chavanne responded with consecutive goals to lift them to a 2-1 lead after the opening chukker of play.
Tommy Biddle tied it up at 2-2 on a penalty conversion, but Elangeni Ranch’s Joey Casey scored the final goal of the chukker, and after two periods of play Elangeni Ranch held a narrow one goal, 3-2 advantage.
England’s Alex Hawes evened it at 3-3 with his first goal of the game, and it looked like it was heading into a tie game when Chavanne broke loose for his third goal of the game for a 4-3 Elangeni Ranch victory.
Grand Champions stayed on the field for the ensuing three chukkers with Audi riding onto the field to do battle with them. Audi reeled off four consecutive goals before Grand Champions answered, taking an early 4-1 lead.
Jack Mann scored the first two goals of the game followed by single goals from Juan Bollini and Lucas Lalor. Alex Hawes finally got Grand Champions on the scoreboard to end the chukker.
Lalor added two more goals in the second chukker with team captain Melissa Ganzi scoring a single goal to put Audi on top, 7-1. Whistle Uys kept Grand Champions from being shutout, but after two periods of play Audi led by a comfortable 7-2 margin.
Franco Verones scored the first goal of the third chukker for Grand Champions, but it was Lalor’s fourth goal of the game that ended it with Audi scoring an 8-3 win.
The final showdown of the afternoon had Elangeni Ranch facing Audi with the winner taking the day. In a defensively dominated first chukker, Melissa Ganzi scored the only goals of the first period, converting a penalty goal for the opening score and adding a goal from the field. Goals continued to be hard to come by, with Lalor adding a goal in the final chukker to give Audi a 3-0 lead. Diego Coscio scored the final goal of the match as Audi took the day with a 3-1 score.