Longfield/Equine Law captures USPA Eastern Challenge
By Alex Webbe
Jeff Hall led a balanced Longfield/Equine Law (Hannah
Buchan, Jason Crowder, Jeff Hall and Avery Chapman) attack as they rode off
with a 14-10 win over Pony Express (Bob Daniels, Melissa Ganzi, Tomas Goti and
Juan Bollini) in the finals of the 2012 USPA Eastern Challenge at the Grand
Champions Polo Club in Wellington Sunday afternoon.
Pony Express received two goals by handicap from the
14-goal Longfield/Equine Law foursome and added a single goal from Tomas Goti
in the opening chukker. Longfield/Equine
Law registered three first chukker goals, with Hall converting a penalty shot
for a goal and Jason Crowder and Avery Chapman adding single goals from the
field for a 3-3 tie.
Two more goals from Goti in the second period were answered
by a penalty goal from Hall. Pony
Express held a one goal lead, 5-4 after two complete chukkers of play.
Goti’s fourth goal of the game had Pony Express on top of
a 6-4 lead in the third when Crowder broke through the defense for a goal. Juan Bollini scored the final goal of the
first half to give Pony Express a 7-5 advantage.
A renewed Longfield/Equine Law team took the field in the
fourth chukker, picking up a pair of goals from Hall (one from the field and
one on a penalty shot) and a single goal from Crowder to deadlock it at
8-8. Pony Express added a goal on a
penalty conversion from Bollini.
Four consecutive goals from Longfield/Equine Law in the
fifth period gave then a 12-8 lead over Pony Express. Hall scored three times from and Hannah
Buchan scored once. A tally by Melissa Ganzi ended the chukker
with Longfield/Equine Law ahead, 12-9.
Goti scored on a penalty shot, cutting the lead to two
goals, 12-10, but Longfield/Equine Law responded with single goals from Buchan
and Chapman for the 14-10 victory.
Hall led all scoring with seven goals (three on penalty
shots). Crowder scored three times and
Buchan and Chapman were credited with two goals apiece.
Goti spearheaded the Pony Express attack with five scores
(one on a penalty shot). Bollini scored
twice (one by penalty), and Melissa Ganzi added a goal in the loss. Pony Express also received two goals by
handicap.
Chapman was named MVP while Chica Bruta, a 10-year-old brown Argentine mare received Best
Playing Pony Honors. Chica Bruta is owned by Halo Polo and
was played by Bollini in the third chukker.
CINQUE
TERRE WINS ROUND-ROBIN
In earlier competition, Cinque Terre (Alessandro Bazzoni,
Lucas Lalor, Kris Kampsen and Marc Ganzi) bested Newport (Gene Goldstein, Timmy
Sharma, Nacho Badiola and Joey Casey) and Ruby Q (Brian Street, Joaquin Panelo,
J. J. Celis and Diego Cossio) to capture the consolation round of the Eastern
Challenge.
With all three teams winding up with identical 1-1
records, the winner was decided on the strength of net goals scored, with
Cinque Terre the clear winner.
Cinque Terre got the ball rolling with an opening 6-1 win
over Newport/Tuff Rider with Marc Ganzi scoring four of the team’s six goals
(two on penalty shots). Alessandro
Bazzoni added two goals including a 60-yard neck shot in the third chukker.
Newport held the field for the ensuing three periods
against Ruby Q, scoring a 6-3 win. Joey
Casey scored three times in the match with Nacho Badiola, Timmy Sharma and Gene
Goldstein adding single goals in the victory. Joaquin Panelo scored twice for Ruby Q with
teammate J. J. Celis adding a goal in the loss.
The final round of play had Ruby Q holding on to win a
3-2 contest against Cinque Terre with all three goals coming from Panelo. Ruby Q jumped out to a 2-1 first chukker lead
with Bazzoni accounting for the only Cinque Terre goal. A single goal from Panelo gave Ruby Q a 3-1
advantage with Lucas Lalor giving Cinque Terre the closing goal in a closely
contested match.
With all three teams carrying 1-1 records the winner was
decided on net goals scored, with Cinque Terre carrying the day with a +4 net
goals.