Flat Out and ELG/Newport
in tournament finals
By Alex Webbe
The
14-goal Joanne Schwetz Memorial kicked off with an opening match that saw
ELG/Newport (Gene Goldstein, Avery Chapman, Mariano Gonzalez and Esteban
Panelo) score a narrow 7-6 win over Ruby Q (Brian Street, Diego Cossio, Joaquin
Panelo and Joey Casey) in a Friday morning game at the Palm City Polo Club in Boca
Raton.
Ruby
Q received one goal by handicap and added to it on a goal from the field
from Brian Street. ELG/Newport answered with a pair of goals
from Esteban Panelo for a 2-2 opening chukker score.
Gene
Goldstein scored twice from the field in the second and added another goal on a
penalty shot. Diego Cossio and Joaquin
Panelo each scored a goal for
Ruby Q, trailing 5-4 after the second chukker of the game.
Goldstein
scored another goal for ELG/Newport in the third, but Ruby Q was up to it. Cossio scored two more goals to end the chukker
in a 6-6 deadlock.
Avery
Chapman scored for ELG/Newport in the opening minute of the second half, a goal
that would prove to be the difference in the match. Ruby Q kept the pace fluid, but both defenses
ruled the final two chukkers in the 7-6 ELG/Newport win.
FLAT OUT WINS ROUND
ROBIN, GOES TO FINALS
Paul
Knapp’s Flat Out polo team (Paul Knapp, Brandon Phillips, Tommy Biddle and
Sarah Knapp) scored wins over Daniel & Henry (6-2) and Audi (4-3 in
overtime) to secure a berth in Sunday morning’s finals of the Joanne Schwetz
Memorial Cup at Grand Champions Polo Club in Wellington.
Flat
Out made short work of Daniel & Henry in the opening three chukkers of the
round-robin, putting the opening two goals on the scoreboard with Brandon
Phillips opening up the game with a goal from the field followed by a goal from
Sarah Knapp. Carlucho Arellano (filling
in for J. J. Celis) scored Daniel & Henry’s only goal of the chukker. Flat Out took the lead, 2-1.
Four
second chukker goals from Flat Out went unanswered with Tommy Biddle accounting
for three of them (two on penalty shots) and a goal from the field from Paul
Knapp. With one chukker left, Flat Out held a 6-1
edge over Daniel & Henry.
Daniel
& Henry’s Stevie Orthwein registered the only goal of the third period but
flat Out held on for the 6-2 win.
Daniel
& Henry held the field against Audi in the second leg of the round-robin,
falling in a hard-fought 5-4 contest.
Horton
Schwartz (substituting for Ruben Gracida) scored the first goal against Audi
but was answered by a goal from Juancito Bollini. Combined with Audi’s one goal handicap, the
held the early 2-1 advantage.
Second
chukker goals from Stevie Orthwein and Carlucho Arellano had Daniel & Henry
up, 3-2 before Grant Ganzi tied it up on a beautifully executed backhander. It was all even at 3-3 with one chukker left
to be played.
Audi’s
Juancito Bollini went ahead on a goal from the field followed by a penalty goal
from Crowder. Orthwein scored his second
goal of the mini-match and third goal of the day in the 5-4 Audi win.
The
last battle of the day would be between Audi and Flat Out, with the winners
going on to the tournament finals.
Once
again Audi received one goal by handicap with Crowder adding to it on a penalty
conversion. Flat Out was unable to score
and fell behind 2-0.
Paul
Knapp converted two penalty shots for Flat out in the second. Crowder converted a second penalty goal. Audi was leading, 3-2, with one period left
to play.
Paul
Knapp tied it up at 3-3 on a penalty conversion with tommy Biddle scoring the
winning goal of the game to elevate Flat Out into the Sunday 10AM finals of the
finals of the 14-goal Joanne Schwetz
Memorial scheduled to be played at the Palm City Polo Club.
The
consolation match between Audi, Daniel Henry and Ruby Q is slated to be played
at the Grand Champions Polo Club at 1PM on Sunday.