ELG to face
Casablanca in USPA Kay Colee Memorial final
By Alex Webbe
ELG (Melissa Ganzi, Kris Kampsen, Juan Bollini and Avery
Chapman) scored wins over Newport (Gene Goldstein, Michel Dorignac, Luis
Escobar and Kaisser Maakar) and Beluga (Misha Rodzianko, Leo Mandelbaum,
Brandon Phillips and Joey Casey) Friday morning in the opening round-robin
competition of the Grand Champions Polo Club’s USPA Kay Colee Memorial
presented by The Tackeria.
Newport’s Kaiser Maakar scored the opening goal of the match,
but with the aid of one goal by handicap and two goals from the field (one from
Avery Chapman and one from Juan Bollini, who scored from the throw-in), ELG
took the early 3-1 lead.
Kris Kampsen scored
his only goal of the match in the second while Newport 7-goaler, Michel
Dorignac, converted two penalty shots for goals, ELG continued to lead, but
Newport cut the margin to one goal, 4-3.
Melissa Ganzi scored ELG’s fifth goal of the morning to give
ELG a two goal lead, 5-3, but a final penalty goal by Dorignac would decide the
final score in a 5-4 ELG victory.
BELUGA 4, NEWPORT 2
The Beluga polo team (Misha Rodzianko, Leo Mandelbaum, Joey
Casey and Brandon Phillips) took the field for the next three chukkers, handing
Newport its second consecutive defeat of the day, 4-2.
In a defensive-oriented opening chukker, Beluga’s Misha
Rodzianko scored the only goal of the first chukker for a 1-0 lead.
Three more goals in the second chukker had Beluga in front,
4-0 as Leo Mandelbaum, Joey Casey and Brandon Phillips each scored a goal for
the team. At the 3:35 mark of the
chukker Casey suffered a fall and was forced to retire from the game. Juan Diaz replaced him, and the game
proceeded.
Luis Escobar scored from the field in the final period while
Dorignac converted a penalty shot for Newport’s only other goal in the 4-2
loss. The defeat set up the final match
of the day with ELG (1-0) and Beluga (1-0) facing one another to decide one of
the tournaments finalists.
ELG 6, BELUGA 3
After a three-chukker rest, a refreshed ELG team returned to
the field to face Beluga. Opening goals
from Juan Bollini and Kris Kampsen were combined with one goal by
handicap. Beluga responded with a goal
from the field from Leo Mandelbaum.
Second period action saw Juan Bollini and Misha Rodzianko
exchange goals for the only scores of the chukker. Joey Casey’s horse went down throwing Casey
to the ground and forcing him to be replaced by Juan Diaz. The chukker ended with ELG in the lead, 4-2.
Kris Kampsen scored his second goal of the game and Avery
Chapman scored to extend the ELG lead to four goals, 6-2. Brandon Phillips scored the final goal of the
game for Beluga, but it was ELG that rode off with the 60-3 victory and an
invitation to the tournament finals.
CASABLANCA 11, PALM
HOUSE 9
The tournament action continued at 5PM on the Grand Champion
fields with Casablanca (Grant Ganzi, Juancito Bollini, Mike Azzaro and Wes
Finlayson) battling with Palm House (Johnny Lavin, Marc Ganzi, Nic Roldan and
Carlitos Gracida) for the last finals berth.
Casablanca received two goals by handicap from the 13-goal
Palm House contingent and went up, 3-0, as Wes Finlayson scored the first goal
of the game. Nic Roldan fired back for
Palm House, scoring his team’s only goal with just 1:37 left in the chukker. Casablanca continued to lead, 3-1.
Second chukker goals from Johnny Lavine and Nic Roldan had
the game all even at 3-3, but Casablanca wasn’t quite through. A great individual effort by Grant Ganzi in
the final minute of play gave the goal and the lead to Casablanca, 4-3.
Roldan and Ganzi exchanged goals in the third. Ganzi scored once from the field and once on
a penalty shot. Roldan scored twice from
the field as Casablanca continued to lead at the end of the first half, 6-5.
Casablanca ran the lead up to two goals in the fourth
chukker. While Nic Roldan scored the
first goal of the period, Casablanca got a pair of goals from former 10-goaler,
Mike Azzaro. Casablanca ended the fourth
period with a two goal, 8-6 advantage.
Palm House continued to chase Casablanca in the fifth. Goals from Carlitos Gracida and Nic Roldan
(60-yard penalty conversion) cut the Casablanca lead down to a single digit
while getting a single goal from Mike Azzaro.
With one chukker left in regulation time, Casablanca held on to the
lead, 9-8.
Casablanca took early control of the sixth chukker. Goals from Mike Azzaro (at 3:31) and Wes
Finlayson (on a beautifully executed nearside fore-shot) had Casablanca on top,
11-8 with less than three minutes left in the game. With time running out, Carlitos Gracida
scored the final goal of the match, but it was Casablanca with the win and a
date in the tournament finals at 10AM, Sunday morning.