England
beats USA in last seconds of overtime in China’s Super Nations Cup
By Alex Webbe
American 8-goalers Nic Roldan and Mike Azzaro were hoping to
make up for the Westchester Cup loss to England just two months earlier, but
that wasn’t in the cards as they played the opening match of the 2013 Fortune
Heights Super Nations Cup at Tianjin’s Goldin Metropolitan Polo Club. After taking early control of the game, the
US team (Tommy Collingwood, Nic Roldan, Mike Azzaro and Ulysses Escapite) saw
England (Henry Fisher, Mark Tomlinson, Luke Tomlinson and Nacho Gonzalez) mount
a second half rally that allowed them to tie it up in the fifth and win in
overtime, 14-13, on a goal from the field from Mark Tomlinson.
Luke Tomlinson scored the first goal of the game, but Tommy
Collingwood responded with a goal from the field just a minute later. Single goals from Nic Roldan and Mike Azzaro
ended the chukker with the United States riding off the field with a 3-1 lead.
Azzaro scored his second goal of the game just 30 seconds
into the second chukker, 4-1, and gave the US a four goal lead, 5-1, at the
4:39 mark. Luke Tomlinson kept England
from getting shut out with a closing goal.
After two chukkers, the United States held a 5-2 advantage.
England scored the first two goals of the third with the
Tomlinson brothers each picking up a goal.
Collingwood scored his second goal of the day and Azzaro closed out the
first half to put the USA on top, 7-4.
Azzaro converted a penalty shot to open the fourth, 8-4,
when the English team began to stir.
Luke Tomlinson and Azzaro traded goals followed by three consecutive
English goals that cut the American lead to a single goal, 9-8.
Roldan opened the fifth chukker with a goal from the field,
10-8, but goals from Luke Tomlinson and Nacho Gonzalez had it all even for the
first time all day at 10-10. Roldan
added another US goal, 11-10, but Luke Tomlinson tied it up at 11-11 at the
bottom of the chukker.
Henry Fisher scored the opening goal of the sixth, giving
England their first lead of the day; 12-11.Roldan tied it up at 12-12 nearly
four minutes later. Mark Tomlinson gave
the lead back to England at 5:55, 13-12.
Roldan won the ensuing throw-in and drove the ball toward the English
goal. A racing Azzaro hit the ball
through the goalposts to deadlock it once again, 13-13, and force sudden-death
overtime.
The US team missed three scoring opportunities in overtime
as they ate up the clock with drive after drive. Mark Tomlinson finally picked up the ball
with time running out and raced down the field for the winning goal—the second
time England would beat the United States in overtime in two months.
The win puts England in Saturday’s finals against
Wednesday’s winner of the Argentina vs. Hong Kong contest. The United States will face the loser of the
Argentina-Hong Kong showdown for third place.