Faraway Win Joe Barry Memorial Cup-10-9
By Alex Webbe
Faraway fell behind early in the finals of the 2011 Joe Barry Memorial Cup at the International Polo Club, trailing Bendabout 3-0 early in the second chukker, but bounced back to capture the prized trophy with an exciting 10-9 win.
Faraway was forced to replace 7-goaler Sugar Erskine (suffered a fracture to his leg in previous game) with Adam Snow, and seemed to have trouble getting a rhythm going with the new lineup.
In a slow start, Bendabout’s Chris Nevins scored the goal of the first chukker on a penalty shot, and both teams left the field for fresh mounts.
Inaki Laprida made it 2-0 in the second, followed by a goal from the field from Lucas Criado for a 3-0 lead. Faraway came back with a goal from Snow and a penalty conversion from Julio Arellano. The period ended with Bendabout holding on to a one goal advantage, 3-2.
Arellano’s second goal of the game tied it up at 3-3 early in the third chukker, and the Faraway attack was beginning to get some teeth to it. Gillian Johnston and Lucas Criado scored single goals for Bendabout before Arellano’s third goal of the game ended the first half with Bendabout leading 5-4.
Julio Gracida tied the game at 5-5 early in the fourth chukker, but Nevins scored to put Bendabout back on top, 6-5. Snow tied it at 6-6 to end the period as Bendabout struggled with its goal shots.
Bendabout charged out in the fifth with Laprida scoring consecutive goals to give his team an 8-6 edge, but Faraway wasn’t thru yet. Arellano converted a penalty shot and then took advantage of a well-placed pass from Snow to tie it at 8-8 as the chukker ended.
With just over two minutes gone in the sixth chukker, and Bendabout pressuring the Faraway defenses in front of its goal, Julio Arellano took control of the ball and blasted it down field. Carrying the ball in well-measured strokes of his mallet, Arellano carried the ball over 280 yards, with Bendabout players in pursuit, and drove it through the Bendabout goal posts for a score, and a 9-8 lead.
Both teams struggled to break through the opposing defenses with no luck until a Bendabout foul put Arellano at the penalty line where he stroked through another penalty shot to give Faraway a 10-8 lead.
There was no surrender in Bendabout, however, as the team struggled mightily to get back in to the game.
Laprida scored his fourth goal of the game, as time ran out, and Faraway ended up on the winning end of the 10-9 score.
Arellano scored six of Faraway’s ten goals and was named MVP for his efforts. Lucas Criado’s Parejo was named Best Playing Pony.
ERG WINS BOBBY BARRY CUP, 11-10
In earlier action, ERG relied on five goals from Jason Crowder (replacing Freddie Mannix) to score an 11-10 win over Patagones in the finals of the Bobby Barry Cup.
ERG jumped out to a 4-1 lead after the first chukker getting a pair of goals from Crowder and Paco De Narvaez, as a sputtering Patagones offense struggled to establish a rhythm.
In second chukker action, Santiago Wulff’s second goal of the game and a goal from the field from Memo Gracida got them back into the game, trailing 5-3 after two periods of play.
Wulff added two more goal in the third and team captain Gonzalo Avendano scored to put Patagones on top for the first time all afternoon, 6-5, but Crowder’s fourth goal of the game had it all even at 6-6 at the end of the first half.
Patagones continued to press the ERG defense, forcing fouls and putting Gracida at the penalty line. Two converted penalty shots and shutout defense in the fourth chukker ended with Patagones leading ERG 8-6 going into the fifth chukker.
Three unanswered goals from ERG in the fifth (two from Crowder and one from Santi Torres) gave ERG a 9-8 lead, as Patagones was unable to get on the scoreboard in the chukker, and it would all come down to the last seven minutes of play.
Gracida opened the final chukker with a goal from the field followed by a penalty conversion, giving Patagones a 10-9 edge, but ERG stormed back. Consecutive goals from Torres and De Narvaez ended the game with an 11-10 ERG victory.
High-goal action will continue with the opening games of the Ylvisaker Cup on Saturday, January 29 at 1 pm and 2 pm.