Goose Creek, Villa Del Lago and ERG win in Barry Memorial Cup play

Goose Creek rallies
for overtime win; victories for Villa Del Lago and ERG as Joe Barry Memorial
Cup competition continues

By
Alex Webbe

Lechuza Caracas 6-goaler Tomas Goti shot out of the
starting gate Friday afternoon, scoring three straight goals and giving his
team an early 3-0 advantage over a disorganized Goose Creek lineup.

Things got no better in the second chukker for Goose
Creek, with Agustin Nero scoring twice from the field and Goti adding another
goal on a penalty conversion.  Goose
Creek team captain Maureen Brennan got her team on the scoreboard with a single
goal.  After two periods of play, Goose
Creek trailed Lechuza Caracas 6-1.

Goose Creek finally got into the rhythm of the game in
the third chukker.  Kampsen converted two
30-yard penalty shots for goals and teammate Tommy Biddle drilled the ball 150
yards down the field on a Penalty 5. 
Lechuza Caracas gave up no ground, picking up a pair of goals from Goti
and a single goal from Lechuza Caracas team captain, Victor Vargas.  At the end of the first half Lechuza Caracas
held on to a five goal, 9-4 lead.

“We were all over the place in the first half,” said
Kampsen.  “We couldn’t hit the ball, we
were missing penalty shots, nothing was going right for us,” he said.  “We got together at halftime and agreed that
all was not lost.  We decided that we
could and would fight our way back into the game.”

Goose Creek scored two goals on great individual efforts
from Kampsen and Luis Escobar in the fourth chukker.  Nero responded with a goal for Lechuza
Caracas, and the lead was cut to four goals, 10-6.

Two more penalty goals were scored by Biddle in the fifth
chukker, with Adam Snow scoring a goal from the field for Lechuza Caracas.  The lead was cut to three goals with one
chukker left in regulation time.

Both teams fought and scraped for control of the ball in
the sixth, with Goose Creek coming out on top. 
Kampsen scored on a pass from Biddle, and Biddle cut the lead to a
single goal, 11-10 on a penalty shot for a goal.   Kampsen
scored his second goal of the chukker to tie it up, 11-11, while the team’s
defense shut out Lechuza Caracas.  The
horn sounded with the teams deadlocked at 11-11, calling for a sudden-death
overtime period.

After a brief intermission, both teams returned to the
field.  Goose Creek took control of the
ball and a streaking Kampsen scored the winning goal, 12-11.

Kampsen led Goose Creek with six goals.  Biddle scored four times and teammates
Brennan and Escobar added single goals in the win.  Goti accounted for six goals for Lechuza
Caracas.  Nero added three goals and Snow
and Vargas each scored a goal in the loss.

VILLA
DEL LAGO 12, CRAB ORCHARD 11

Later in the day, Villa Del Lago 8-goaler Polito Pieres
was dealt the hot hand in the first chukker, scoring the first goal from the
opening throw-in and adding two more goals from the field.  Crab Orchard answered with a pair of goals
from Mariano Aguerre (one on a penalty shot) and a goal from the field from
Felipe Viana and the first chukker ended in a 3-3 tie.

Two second chukker goals from Aguerre were countered by
single goals from Pieres (penalty conversion) and Magoo Laprida.  After two periods it was all even at 5-5.

Pieres scored two more goals in the third (one on a
penalty shot), and Laprida added a penalty conversion.  Crab Orchard was held to a single penalty
goal from Aguerre and Villa Del Lago rode off the field at the end of the first
half with an 8-6 lead.

Both teams regrouped for second half play, and defenses
tightened.  Pieres and Aguerre exchanged
single goals, with Villa Del Lago maintaining a two goal lead at 9-7.

Lorenzo Merlotti opened the fifth chukker with a goal
from the field.  Pieres added two more
and Villa Del Lago held a five goal advantage, 12-7.  Aguerre kept Crab Orchard from getting
blanked with his seventh goal of the day, but Vila Del Lago continued to lead,
12-8.

Crab orchard lite them up in the sixth with gals from
Magrini and Viana draw within two goals of the lead, but time was running
out.  Aguerre scored the final goal of
the match to cut the lead to a single goal, 12-11 when time ran out in the
Villa Del Lago win.

Polito Pieres scored nine goals for Villa Del Lago, two
on penalty shots.  Laprida added two
goals, with one on a penalty shot and Lorenzo Merlotti added a goal for the
win.   Aguerre accounted for eight goals
for Crab Orchard, three on penalty conversions. 
Viana scored twice and Magrini added a goal in a losing effort.

 

ERG
8, FARAWAY POLO 7

Both ERG and Faraway Polo showed opening game jitters as they
took the field in the final 20-goal match of the day.

After battling to a 1-1 first chukker tie, Scott Wood’s
ERG entry in the Joe Barry Memorial Cup held off a last chukker rally by
Faraway Polo to score an 8-7 win.

Faraway’s Santiago Chavanne scored the first goal of the
game from the field and Paco de Narvaez answered with a 60-yard penalty
conversion for ERG for the early 1-1 tie, but the fireworks exploded in the
second chukker. 

Four consecutive ERG goals in the second period of Friday
afternoons match saw Faraway Polo fall behind by four goals, 5-1.  The ERG defense held Faraway Polo scoreless
while picking up single goals from de Narvaez (penalty conversion) and Jeff
Blake and a pair of goals from Hector Galindo (one from the field and one on a
penalty shot). 

Faraway Polo bounced back in the third chukker as Pelon
Escapite scored his first goal of the match and Chavanne added two more (one on
a penalty shot).  Blake responded with a single
goal and ERG ended the first half with a 6-4 lead.

Scoring was hard to come by in the fourth, with de
Narvaez registering the only goal of the chukker for ERG.  With two periods left to play ERG led 7-4.

The two teams exchanged goals in the fifth with Juan
Monteverde getting Faraway Polo on the scoreboard first and Blake countering
with the final goal of the chukker.  ERG
continued to lead, 8-5.

Faraway Polo pressed its attack in the sixth chukker,
picking up a pair of goals on penalty conversions from Chavanne.  Trailing by a single goal Faraway Polo was on
the attack when time expired and ERG registered their first win of the season,
8-7.

Faraway Polo’s Chavanne scored a game high five goals,
four on penalty conversions.  Teammates
Escapite and Monteverde added single goals in the loss.  Blake and de Narvaez scored three goals
apiece for ERG.  Galindo added two goals
in the win.

Competition in the 2013 Joe Barry Memorial Cup will
continue at the International Polo Club on Saturday with a 3pm contest between
Valiente and Lucchese.