Lucchese and Mt. Brilliant Score Big Wins

Lucchese, Mt. Brilliant Roll Over Opponents


By Alex Webbe


 


There was a time when Memo Gracida was solid gold on the Wellington polo scene.  The former 10-goaler ruled American polo for decades, capturing the United States Open Championship a record 16 times and carrying a 10-goal handicap for twenty-one consecutive years, but the return of the polo legend to the International Polo Club playing fields Sunday afternoon was greatly overshadowed by 6-goaler Kris Kampsen and the Lucchese team.


Lucchese received one goal by handicap and Kampsen scored the first goal of the game, but Gracida quickly showed that he wasn’t anywhere near retirement when he scored  three goals in the opening chukker.  Andres Weisz got on the scoreboard for Lucchese, with a goal, and Santiago Wulff rounded out the Patagones attack with a goal with the first chukker ending in a 4-4 tie.  After that, it was all Lucchese.


 â€œI had a little horse trouble in the first chukker, but from then on it was smooth sailing,” said Kampsen.


And smooth sailing it was as the tall red-headed malletman dominated play throughout the game.


By the end of the third chukker of play, Kampsen had amassed five goals as Lucchese rode off to an 8-6 lead.


“The teamwork was incredible,” said Kampsen, “it was a total team effort.”


The Patagones offense stalled in the fourth chukker as Kampsen scored two more goals and Lucchese went up 12-8.  Teammates John Muse and Luis Escobar added single goals in the fourth, with Patagones being held to single goals from Wulff and Carlos Avendano.


Gracida, the consummate field general, held his own, but conceded that the team was not up to the task.   Lucchese, on the other hand was well-prepared.


“We just weren’t ready,” said the former 10-goaler.  “They were certainly the better team today, and they played very well,” he added.


 â€œWe made a couple of adjustments to our play this week,” said Escobar, “we felt we were prepared to deal with Patagones, defensively, and we did.”


Escobar had the daunting task of shadowing Gracida for much of the game, and held the former superstar to only four goals.


Patagones tried to stage a rally in the opening chukker of the second half, getting consecutive goals from Carlos Avendano and Wulff, but the offensive charge only seemed to energize the Lucchese players.


Kampsen converted two penalty shots and team captain John Muse and Escobar added single goals as Lucchese left the field after four chukkers on top of a 12-8 lead.


Patagones tried to get back into the game in the fifth chukker, opening with another goal from Wulff, but Kampsen tallied his eighth goal of the game for a 13-9 Lucchese lead as the period ended.


Lucchese never let up, adding five more goals in the final chukker (three more from Kampsen and individual goals from Escobar and Andres Weisz) for the final 18-10 score.  Gracida’s fourth goal of the game was the only offense Patagones could muster against the high-flying Lucchese team.


“We just played basic polo,” said Muse, Chairman of the Board of the Texas boot company who’s name the team carries.  “We marked our men and concentrated on teamwork.”


 â€œWe’ll play again on another day,” vowed Patagones team captain, Gonzalo Avendano.  “We’ll give a better showing of ourselves next time.”


MT. BRILLIANT 15, ZACARA 4


American 8-goalers Mike Azzaro and Nic Roldan combined for twelve goals Sunday afternoon in Barry Memorial Cup play as they decimated a bewildered and disorganized Zacara polo team in a 15-4 romp.


One can only wonder what the combination of Mike Azzaro and Nic Roldan could have accomplished in international play two years ago had Azzaro not been injured the week before the Westchester Cup (England vs. USA).


Displaying masterful mallet-work and a string of horses that looked to be in mid-season form, Azzaro scored eight times in leading Mt. Brilliant to a 15-4 drubbing of Lyndon Lea’s Zacara foursome in Barry Cup play.


Mt. Brilliant jumped out to an early 4-0 lead after the first chukker and led 5-0 before Zacara finally got on the scoreboard.  With Roldan and Azzaro looking as if they had been playing with one another for years, Mt. Brilliant continued to roll. 


By the end of the first half, devastating runs and hard-hitting shots at goal had Mt. Brilliant up 8-3 at the end of the first half, with Zacara struggling to find its offense.


Mt. Brilliant continued to pile it on, adding seven more goals to its total while virtually shutting down the Zacara attack.


With less than a minute to play in the final chukker Zacara team captain Lea converted a penalty shot to end the game in a 15-4 Mt. Brilliant win.


Azzaro led all scoring with eight goals.  Roldan added four with Escapite accounting for two scores and team captain Bo Goodman chipping a goal for the win.


Martin Ravina scored twice for Zacara.  Jeff Blake and Lyndon Lea added single goals in the loss.


Action will continue in the 2011 Joe Barry Memorial Cup competition on Wednesday, January 12 with a 1 pm game between ERG (0-1) and Faraway Polo (0-1), followed by a 3 pm contest between Bendabout (1-0) and Valiente (1-0).