La Casa Hermosa wins on an OT goal from Jeff Blake
By Alex Webbe
Action continued in the International Polo club’s 2012
14-goal Wanderers Cup Wednesday afternoon with La Casa Hermosa scoring an
exciting 12-11 overtime win over Jan Pamela.
In a see-saw battle that saw the scored tied six times,
La casa Hermosa rode on the shoulders of seven goals from Jeff Blake to hand
the 2011 defending champion its first loss of the season.
Jan Pamela’s Hector Galindo scored the first goal of the game
but La Casa Hermosa responded with goals from Chris Nevins and Brad Blake to
take the lead, 2-1. A penalty conversion
from Steve Dalton closed out the opening chukker in a 2-2 deadlock.
The defenses tightened in the second chukker, with Brad Blake
putting La Casa Hermosa on top, 3-2 before Jan Pamela roared back to tie it
again on a goal from Dalton, 3-3.
Dalton opened the third period with his third goal of the
game to give Jan Pamela a 4-3 advantage, but La Casa Hermosa wasted little time
in responding. Jeff Blake converted a 40-yard
penalty shot to even it up at 4-4.
Dalton scored the final goal of the first half to give Jan Pamela a 5-4
edge after three chukkers of play.
Galindo scored from the field to stretch the Jan Pamela lead
to two goals, 6-4 before a La Casa Hermosa rally tied it up again at 6-6. Jeff Blake scored from the field followed by the
tying penalty conversion from Brad Blake.
Galindo scored the final goal of the period to give Jan Pamela a 7-6
lead with two chukkers left to play.
Dalton chipped in a penalty shot for a goal to open the
fifth, 8-6, with Jeff Blake responding with a goal for La Casa Hermosa, 8-7. Dalton and Jeff Blake exchanged goals, 9-8,
with Dalton adding a final goal, 10-8.
Jeff Blake tallied the final goal of the chukker as La Casa Hermosa
continued to trail, 10-9.
Carlitos Galindo scored his first goal of the match to
open the sixth, 11-9, when La Casa Hermosa put it into high gear. Consecutive goals from Brad Blake (one goal
by a penalty shot and another from the field) locked it up at 11-11 and forced
a sudden-death overtime period.
After a brief recess, both teams returned to the pitch
where Jeff Blake took the ensuing throw-in down the field and scored the
winning goal in the 12-11 contest.
Jeff Blake led the La Casa Hermosa team with seven
goals. His younger brother, Brad Blake,
scored four times and Nevins added a goal in the win.
Dalton scored seven
times for Jan Pamela. Hector Galindo
added three goals and Carlitos Galindo accounted for a single goal