Audi and Casablancain Beluga USPA North American Cup finals
By Alex Webbe
Audi (Marc Ganzi, Carlitos Gracida, Nic Roldan and MichelDorignac) earned the first berth in the finals of the 2013 Beluga USPA NorthAmerican Cup at the Grand Champions Polo Club Thursday morning with a 12-9semifinal win over Berlin Polo (Moritz Gaedeke, Hector Galindo, Sugar Erskineand Jeff Blake) in a fast-paced contest.
Audi received one goal by handicap, but Berlin Polo’s Jeff Blaketied it up, 1-1, with the first goal from the field. American 8-goaler Nic Roldan responded bybouncing a neck-shot off of the far goal post for a 2-1 Audi lead. Hector Galindo tied it up with his first goalof the game, 2-2, but Roldan wasn’t through. Two more goals from Roldan, including a buzzer beating shot through thegoalposts with three seconds on the clock gave Audi an early 4-2 advantage.
Both defenses buckled down in second chukker play. Marc Ganzi extended the Audi lead to 5-2halfway through the second period. SugarErskine answered with a single goal for Berlin Polo by cutting an impressiveneck-shot through the goalposts from just off the backline some 60-yard away,5-3.
Ganzi opened the third chukker with his second goal of thegame, 6-3. A minuet-and-a-half later,Blake got Berlin Polo on the scoreboard with a goal from the field, 6-4. Ganzi closed out the first half with a40-yard penalty goal, 7-4.
Galindo cut the Audi lead to two goals, 7-5, with theopening goal of the second half, but Audi continued to press the attack. Berlin Polo fouls sent Roldan to the penaltyline, watching him convert consecutive penalty shots for goals and a four goal,9-5 advantage. Roldan made an impressivesave of a Berlin Polo shot on goal at the 1:27 mark of the fourth chukker, withBlake scoring on an extreme angle. BerlinPolo continued to trail by three goals, 9-6.
Defense was the rule in fifth period. Blake scored the only goal of the chukkerwith just 1:17 left on the clock. BerlinPolo cut the Audi lead to two goals, 9-7.
Berlin Polo team captain Moritz Gaedeke cut the Audi lead toa single goal, 9-8, with a score in the first minute of play in the sixth. Roldan responded with a goal from the fieldjust a minute later, 10-8. An Audipenalty sent Erskine to the penalty line at 4:08 where he scored on a 60-yardpenalty shot, 10-9. Roldan put the gameout of reach, however, with the final two goals of the game for a 12-9 Audivictory.
Roldan led all scoring with eight goals (two on penaltyconversions). Ganzi added three (one ona penalty shot), and the team received one goal by handicap. Blake scored four times for Berlin Polo. Erskine and Galindo added two goals apieceand Gaedeke scored once in the loss.
CASABLANCA 15, PIAGET14
Fifteen-year-old Grant Ganzi performed like a pro Thursdayafternoon, scoring eight goals including the winner in sudden-death overtime tolead the Casablanca team (Grant Ganzi, Jeff Hall, Mike Azzaro and BrandonPhillips) to a 15-14 semifinal win over Piaget (Melissa Ganzi, Tommy Biddle,Piki Alberdi and Juan Bollini) in the second semifinal of the 2013 Beluga USPANorth American Cup at the Grand Champions Polo Club.
Piaget received one goal by handicap from the 20-goalCasablanca team but Grant Ganzi tied it up at 1-1 in the opening 30 seconds ofplay with a goal from the field. TommyBiddle and Melissa Ganzi (Grant’s mother) responded with single goals to givePiaget a 3-1 advantage. Grant Ganzi’ssecond goal of the game cut the Piaget lead to 3-2, but a closing goal fromBiddle ended the opening chukker with Piaget on top of a 4-2 score.
Biddle executed a difficult nearside neck-shot to open thesecond chukker, 5-2. The ball jumpedover the boards a minute later, and Biddle took the ensuing throw-in and raced 70yards to score his second goal of the period, 6-2. A Piaget foul sent Grant Ganzi to the penaltyline at 4:40, where he converted a 30-yard penalty shot for a goal, 6-3. Biddle’s third score of the chukker hadPiaget comfortably in the lead, 7-3.
Piki Alberdi scored the first goal of the third chukker inthe opening seconds of play, 8-3, but that was when a strong Casablanca effortstopped the bleeding. Consecutive goalsfrom Mike Azzaro and Grant Ganzi in the closing minute of the period cut intothe Piaget lead and had Casablanca trailing by three goals at the end of thefirst half, 8-5.
Alberdi scored the first goal of the second half, 9-5, inthe opening minute of play, but Azzaro followed up with a goal of his own at4:46 to cut the lead back to three goals, 9-6. Jeff Hall finally got on the scoreboard to bring Casablanca to withintwo goals of the lead, 9-7. Biddle(penalty conversion) and Azzaro traded goals in the final minutes of thechukker. Piaget continued to lead but Casablancawas within two goals at 10-8.
Grant Ganzi converted a penalty goal to open the fifth,10-9, and Hall’s second goal of the day tied it at 10-10. Biddle scored to put Piaget back in the lead,11-10, but Grant Ganzi centered the ball in front of the Piaget goal and thendrove it through the goalposts on a well-executed neck-shot, 11-11. Hall scored with 59 seconds in the chukkerand Casablanca rode off the field on top of a 12-11 score with one chukker leftin regulation play.
Both teams press for the advantage as sixth chukker actionbegan. Biddle scored first on a penaltyconversion, 12-12. Grant Ganzi answeredback with a penalty goal of his own for a 13-12 edge. Biddle scored from the field to tie it at13-13 and then put Piaget back in front, 14-13 with less than a minute on the clock. Azzaro was waiting at midfield for the throw-inand took immediate control of the ball. With nine seconds on the clock, Azzaro drove the ball across the goalline for a14-14 tie, forcing sudden-death overtime.
After a brief intermission to change onto fresh mounts, bothteams returned to the field. Grant Ganzibroke loose and took a pass from Brandon Phillips to score the winning goal inovertime for the 15-14 win and a date in Saturday afternoon’s 4PM finalsagainst Audi.
Grant Ganzi scored a team high eight goals (there on penaltyconversions). Azzaro added four goals tothe win and Hall scored three times. Biddle scored three of his game high nine goals on penalty shots. Alberdi accounted for two goals and Bolliniand Melissa Ganzi each scored once in the loss. Piaget received one goal by handicap.
The 2013 Beluga USPA North American Cup Subsidiary will beplayed on Saturday, November 9th at 2PM featuring Beluga (Misha Rodzianko, Carlos Baez, Michel Dorignac and Luis Escobar)and ELG (Avery Chapman, GuilleAguero, Kris Kampsen and Carlucho Arellano) followed by the tournament finalsbetween Audi and Casablanca.