Heathcote Opens Hampton Cup with a
Win
By Alex Webbe
Heathcote
opened competition in the 2011 Hampton Cup with an exciting 11-10
come-from-behind win over a tough Circa foursome at the Bridgehampton Polo Club
Friday afternoon.
Heathcote
received two goals by handicap from the 19-goal circa team but couldn’t muster
any offense in the opening chukker as they watched Circa score three unanswered
goals. Martin Pepa opened the game with
a goal from the field followed by a goal from teammate Guille Aguero. Pepa added a penalty goal to end the first
period with circa holding a 3-2 advantage.
Heathcote
managed to get its act together in the second, on both offense and
defense. Heathcote tied the game on a
penalty goal from Tommy Biddle and took a 4-3 lead on a goal from the field
from Naco Taverna. Circa was unable to score and left the field at
the end of the chukker trailing by a single goal.
Nothing but
penalty goals in the third, with Magoo Laprida scoring the opener to tie it at
4-4, but consecutive penalty goals from Biddle had Heathcote ahead 6-5 at the
end of the first half.
With the
substitution of 1-goaler Larry Austin for Heathcote team captain Steve
Lefkowitz (0) in the fourth chukker, Heathcote had to surrender one of its
handicap goals, and instead of holding a 6-4 lead, were forced to defend a one
goal 5-4 edge.
Psychological
edge or just the adjustment of a new player into the lineup Circa came alive. Laprida’s second goal of the game tied it up
at 5-5 followed by two straight goals from Pepa. Heathcote was unable to score
and found themselves trailing by two goals at the end of the fourth chukker,
7-5.
Laprida
scored the first goal of the chukker for the second straight time for a three
goal advantage when Heathcote battled back.
A 60-yard penalty goal from Biddle was followed by a goal from the field
from Taverna, cutting the Circa lead to a single goal, 8-7. Circa team captain Chris Del Gatto scored his
first goal of the game for an 8-7 lead, but another penalty goal from Biddle
ended the fifth chukker with Heathcote trailing by a single goal, 9-8.
Another
60-yard penalty conversion from Biddle tied it up, 9-9, in the opening minutes
of the sixth chukker when Pepa gave Circa the lead one last time with his fifth
goal of the day. Biddle hammered a penalty shot down the field
to streaking teammate Nick Manifold who scored on a well-executed shot to even
it at 10-10. Moments later Heathcote
received its second opportunity of the match when Biddle tapped a penalty shot
once before blasting it through the goal posts for the 11-10 win.
Biddle led
all scoring with seven goals. Taverna
added two goals to the Heathcote total and Manifold scored once in the win.
Pepa scored
five goals for Circa. Laprida accounted for
three goals and Aguero and Del Gatto added single goals in the loss.
“It’s
(Heathcote) a great team,†said Biddle after the game. “There’s just no quit on this team. “We fell behind early but just kept at it and
got ourselves right back into the game.
This is a very special group.â€
Hampton Cup
play continues on Saturday with a scheduled 4pm match between KIG and Equuleus.