Mansour,the only undefeated team in America Cup play
ByAlex Webbe
The Santa Barbara Polo Club hosted three games in thehighly competitive USPA Lucchese America Cup Sunday with Mansour (BenSoleimani, Hilario Ulloa, Adam Snow, Santi Von Wernich) edging La Herradura (AlvaroFernandez, Marianito Obregon, Memo Gracida and Carlos Gracida) 11-10; ERG(Scott Wood, Sugar Erskine, Jeff Blake and Paco de Narvaez) slipping pastMerchant Hub (Matias Bullrich, Michel Dorignac, Tavi Usandizaga and LuisEscobar), 11-9; and Lucchese (Andres Weisz, Tavi Usandizaga, Pelon Stirling andJohn Muse) overtaking FMB (Dan Walker, Inaki Laprida, Lucas Criado and HenryWalker) 11-9 with a last chukker rally.
Hilario Ulloa and Adam Snow (penalty shot) scored thefirst two goals of the game. Early fouls allowed La Herradura to stay in it with penalty goals from both Carlos Gracida and Marianito Obregon. The first chukker ended in a 2-2 tie.
Both defenses tightened in the second. Hilario Ulloa broke through for the only goal of the chukker, giving Mansour a 3-2 advantage.
Ulloa and Santi Von Wernich scored consecutive goals toopen the third chukker, 5-2. MemoGracida scored his first goal of the game, 5-3. Von Wernich and Carlos Gracida exchanged goals to end the first halfwith Mansour in the lead, 6-4.
Carlos Gracida cut the lead to a single goal, 6-5 in thefourth chukker. Mansour responded withthree straight goals (two from Von Wernich and one from Ulloa) to extend theirlead to four goals, 9-5.
Carlos Gracida converted a 40-yard penalty shot and Obregonscored once from the field while Mansour was held to a single goal from VonWernich, but time was running out. Atthe end of five chukkers of play, La Herradura trailed by three goals, 10-7.
Obregon scored the first goal of the final chukker on a 60-yardpenalty conversion and Carlos Gracida added two more goals from the field thattied it up at 10-10. La Herradura, aloser by one goal in their opening match fell victim to a late game goal fromSnow as Mansour recorded their second win.
Von Wernich led the Mansour offense with five goals,Ulloa scored four times and Snow added two goals in the win. Carlos Gracida led all scoring with sixgoals. Obregon was credited with threegoals and Memo Gracida scored once in a losing effort.
ERG11, MERCHANT HUB 9
ERG (1-1) rebounded from their opening overtime loss toFMB by scoring an 11-9 win over previously unbeaten Merchant Hub (1-1).
Merchant Hub took the early lead with goals from thefield from Matias Bullrich and Michel Dorignac, 2-0. ERG responded with three straight goals (twogoals from Jeff Blake and a single goal from Sugar Erskine to end the chukkerin the lead, 3-2.
The two teams exchanged goals in the second period withBlake and Escobar scoring on penalty conversions for their respective teamswhile Michael Dorignac and Paco de Narvaez each added a goal from thefield. ERG maintained the one goal lead,5-4.
A pair of 60-yard penalty conversions from de Narvaezmoved ERG in front by three goals, 7-4, but Merchant Hub roared back. Dorignac scored on a 30-yard penalty shot andToto Collardin added two goals for a 7-7 tie. Erskine broke the tie with the final goal of the chukker and ERG leftthe field with an 8-7 advantage.
The ERG defense took control of the game in the fourthand fifth chukkers as they smothered the Merchant Hub attack. Single goals from Blake and de Narvaez in thefourth had ERG on top, 10-7, and a single goal from Erskine in the fifth hadMerchant Hub down by four goals, 11-7 with one chukker left in the game.
Dorignac scored the last two goals of the game (one on apenalty shot) as ERG was content to record the 11-9 win.
Blake and de Narvaez scored four goals apiece forERG. Erskine added three for thevictory. Dorignac led Merchant Hub withfive goals. Collardin added two goalsand Escobar and Bullrich each scored a goal.
LUCCHESE11, FMB 9
Without their regular lineup, Lucchese lost their openinggame by a single goal, 9-8, but took the field on Sunday behind recent arrival,10-goaler Pelon Stirling and team captain John Muse as they got back on thewinning track.
In a tentative opening chukker, FMB’s Inaki Lapridascored the only goal as the players probed one another’s defenses. FMB held a fragile 1-0 lead after the firstseven minutes of play.
Both offenses got on track in the second period, andLucchese started to settle into its new lineup. Stirling made his worth know from the onset, scoring four times in thesecond (once on a 40-yard penalty shot). Laprida added two more goals and Lucas Criado scored once. After two chukkers the teams were all even at4-4.
The parity of the teams was once again reflected in theirplay. Stirling and Tavi Usandizagaconverted penalty shots for Lucchese. Laprida added his fourth goal of the game and Criado scored on a 60-yardpenalty shot. At the end of the firsthalf the score was deadlocked at 6-6.
There was no scoring from the field in the fourth periodwith defense being the keynote. Lapridaand Stirling exchanged penalty conversions, and the score remained tied,7-7.Criado finally gave FMB some separation in the fifth with the first twogoals of the chukker. Stirling closedout the scoring, bringing Lucchese to within a goal of the lead, 9-8.
Stirling continued to lead the Lucchese attack into thefinal chukker, forcing fouls by FMB, and converting successive penalty shotsfor the tying and then the go-ahead score. Usandizaga scored the final goal of the game for the 11-9 win as EMB wasunable to coordinate any effective attack in the final minutes of the game.
Stirling led the field with nine goals (five on penaltyshots). Usandizaga scored twice in thewin. Laprida led FMB with fivegoals. Criado scored four times (twiceon penalty shots) in the loss.
Continuing play in the USPA Lucchese America Cup isscheduled to continue on Friday, July 26 with three matches. Mansour will play ERG at 10AM at PiochoRanch; Merchant Hub is slated to meet Lucchese at Santa Barbara Polo Club at2PM. FMB and ERG will face one anotheron the ERG field at 5PM.
ERG (Scott Wood, Sugar Erskine, Jeff Blake and Paco de Narvaez) slipped past Merchant Hub (MatiasBullrich, Michel Dorignac, Toto Collardin and Luis Escobar) 11-9; and Lucchese (AndresWeisz, Tavi Usandizaga, Pelon Stirling and John Muse) evened its record bybeating FMB (Dan Walker, Inaki Laprida, Lucas Criado and Henry Walker).
In the opening game of day Mansour (2-0) scored itssecond win of the tournament with a one goal win over La Herradura (0-2)despite a late game rally that tied it up in the