Grants Farm Rides off with America
Cup, 13-9
By Alex Webbe
Andy Busch’s
Grants Farm team rode out to an early 3-1 lead in the 2011 USPA America Cup
finals, and never looked back as they galloped off to a convincing 13-9 win. Unimpressed with the Lucchese credentials that
boasted a sweep of Santa Barbara’s high-goal last year, a determined Grants Farm lineup took control
of the game from the opening chukker and never looked back.
Last year
Adolfo Cambiaso and Lucchese were the storyline. With Adolfo Cambiaso at the helm, Lucchese
breezed through the competition at the Santa Barbara Polo club, sweeping the
20-goal competition while compiling tournament wins in the Skene Trophy, the
USPA America Cup and the Bombardier Pacific Coast Open. But it’s been a different story this year.
Jeff Blake
opened the scoring in the America Cup finals with a goal from the field, giving
Lucchese its first and last lead of the contest. Jeff tied it with a 40-yard penalty
conversion followed by a goal from the field from teammate Nic Roldan. Hall closed out the first chukker scoring with
his second goal for an early 3-1 lead.
Consecutive
goals from Hall (a 60-yard penalty shot and one from the field) had Grants Farm
on top, 5-1 before Lucchese finally responded.
A 60-yard penalty conversion from Cambiaso kept Lucchese from getting
blanked, and the chukker ended with Grants Farm ahead, 5-2.
Hall’s fifth
goal of the game had Grants Farm leading 6-2 before Julio Gracida managed to
get Lucchese on the scoreboard. Hall
ended the first half with a 40-yard penalty conversion to give Grants Farm a
commanding 7-3 halftime advantage.
“We took
control of the game from the first chukker,†said Grants Farm 8-goaler Nic Roldan. “We charged the field from the opening
chukker and just never let them get into the game,†he added.
In a penalty
riddled fourth period, Lucchese managed to outscore Grants Farm for the first
time all day. Blake scored all three
Lucchese goals from the penalty line while Grants Farm was held to a pair of penalty
goals from Hall. At the end of four
chukkers of play Grants Farm maintained a comfortable 9-6 advantage.
“We really
covered Adolfo (Cambiaso) well,†said Roldan. “we really didn’t give him much
opportunity to score.â€
Hall scored
his eighth goal of the contest on a goal from the field for a 10-6 Grants Farm
lead before Cambiaso’s 60-yard penalty goal ended the period. Grants Farm had control of the game and a
three goal lead with just seven minutes left to play.
Roldan and
Gracida exchanged goals in the final chukker before Cambiaso scored his first
goal from the field, but it was not to be.
Roldan closed out the scoring with a penalty goal and a goal from the
field for the 13-9 final and a well-deserved Grants Farm victory.
Hall led all
scoring with eight goals and received MVP honors for his efforts. His mount, Sparkle was named Best Playing Pony. Teammate Roldan added five goals in the Grants
Farm win.
Blake’s four
goals set the pace for Lucchese.
Cambiaso scored three times and Gracida added a pair of goals in the
loss.