Goose
Creek captures Primavera Cup in 15-12 win
By
Alex Webbe
Maureen Brennan’s Goose Creek polo team captured the 2013
12-Goal Primavera Cup at the International Polo Club Friday afternoon in fine
form. After galloping out to a
comfortable 10-5 halftime start, Brennan and company coasted to a handy 15-12
win over Iberia Bank.
Iberia Bank received one goal by handicap from the
12-goal Goose Creek team and quickly added to it when Jared Zenni took the
opening throw-in down the field for a goal and a 2-0 lead. Goose Creek wasn’t slow to respond as they
immediately pressed their attack. A
defensive penalty by Iberia Bank resulted in a goal when Goose Creek’s Tano Vial
drove the ball through the goal posts on a 60-yard penalty shot. Brandon Phillips (filling in for an injured
cote Zegers-neck) scored the final goal of the chukker for a 2-2 tie.
Goose Creek added four more goals in the second period
while limiting the Iberia Bank offense to a single penalty goal from Luis
Escobar. Vial scored twice in the
chukker with one shot measuring over 130 yards while Phillips and Maureen
Brennan scored single goals for a 6-3 lead.
Four more Goose Creek goals stretched the lead to five
goals with Vial adding two more on his own and picking up single goals from
Wesley Bryan and Phillips. Zenni scored
both of Iberia Bank’s goals as Goose Creek left the field at the end of the
first half on top of a 10-5 score.
Iberia Bank got off to a quick start in the second
half. Zenni took the opening throw-in
150 yards down the field for a goal and then replicated the act on the ensuing
throw-in to cut the Goose Creek to a manageable 10-7. Single goals from teammates Kaisser Maakar
and Luis Escobar gave Iberia Bank a total of nine goals. Goose Creek was held to a single goal from
Phillips. With two chukkers left in
regulation time, Iberia Bank had cut the Goose Creek lead to two goals, 11-9.
Goose Creek tightened its defense in the fifth period,
shutting down the Iberia Bank attack while adding two more goals to its own
total on penalty conversions from Vial.
At the end of the fifth chukker Goose Creek had a four goal, 13-9
advantage.
Sixth chukker goals from Phillips and Vial had Goose
Creek ahead by six goals, 15-9 with time running out on Iberia Bank. Gabriel Crespo converted a penalty shot for a
goal for Iberia Bank and Escobar added a goal from the field with little time
left in the game. Maakar scored the last
goal of the game as time expired in the 15-12 Goose Creek win.
Vial led all scoring with eight goals on the day and was
named MVP for his efforts. Phillips scored
five times while Brennan and Bryan added single goals for the victory. Brennan’s 10-year-old Chestnut mare, Echo,
was honored as Best Playing Pony.
Zinni’s five goals topped the Iberia Bank totals with
Escobar was credited with three goals; Maakar scoring twice and Crespo
converting a penalty shot for a goal.
YELLOW
CAB 10, JAN PAMELA 8
Earlier in the day Yellow Cab registered a 10-8 win over Jan
Pamela in the consolation round of the 2013 12-Goal Primavera Cup.
The two teams traded goals in the opening chukker with
Yellow cab getting single goals from Jeffrey Garber and Tavi Usandizaga while
Jan Pamela cashed in on a par of penalty goals from Steve Dalton for a 2-2
stalemate.
Yellow Cab got its engine running in the second chukker
with Bill Patterson and Tavi Usandizaga scoring goals while the team’s defense
kept Jan Pamela off the scoreboard.
Yellow Cab drove out to a 4-2 lead after the first two chukkers of play.
Both defenses tightened in the third, but while Jan
Pamela was held scoreless for the second consecutive chukker, Yellow managed a
single goal from Guille Usandizaga for a 5-2 halftime lead.
Mason Wroe scored twice for Jan Pamela in the fourth (one
from the field and one on a 40-yard penalty shot), but Yellow Cab responded
with matching goals from the Usandizaga brothers. At the end of the chukker the Yellow Cab lead
remained at three goals, 7-4.
Wroe converted a penalty shot for a goal in the fifth,
cutting the Yellow Cab lead to two goals, 7-5, on a Penalty 1, that awarded the
team with a goal on a Jan Pamela foul in the goal mouth, and Jeffrey Garber’s
second goal from the field. The Yellow
Cab lead was four goals, 9-5, with one chukker left in regulation time.
Tavi Usandizaga’s fourth goal of the game made it 10-5,
Yellow Cab when Tommy Collingwood seemed to come alive for Jan Pamela. Three consecutive goals from the talented
3-goaler cut into the Yellow Cab lead, 10-8, but not enough. The final horn sounded and Yellow Cab
celebrated the win.
Tavi Usandizaga led the field in scoring with four
goals. Guille Usandizaga and Jeffrey
Garber scored two goals apiece and Patterson added a goal. The team also received one goal on a Penalty
1. Wroe and Collingwood scored three
goals apiece for Jan Pamela. Dalton
accounted for the other two goals in the loss.