Monty Waterbury Cup–2

Barrington Hammers Pony Express in

Waterbury Cup Play

By Alex Webbe

For those of you who either weren’t at the 2009 Camacho Cup or who haven’t had the pleasure of seeing Tommy Biddle play in New York and Connecticut this summer, you missed a wild one at Isinya Field (Owen Rinehart’s field) in Aiken Tuesday afternoon as Barrington (1-0) scored a 13-7 win over a bewildered Pony Express (0-1) foursome in the first round of the 2009 USPA Monty Waterbury Cup.

Biddle only scored one goal on the day, as he was constantly feeding the ball ahead to teammates.  His long drives kept the Barrington team on the attack throughout the match, and on one occasion he just missed knocking in a 150 yard penalty shot as it careened out of bounds, off of a teammate’s mallet as it was heading for the goal. 

The game started slowly, with Barrington receiving one goal by handicap and picking up a penalty goal from team captain Barb Uskup in the opening chukker.  Pony Express 9-goaler Matias Magrini responded with its only goal of the chukker, and trailed 2-1.

Julio Arellano put Barrington up 3-1 with the only goal scored in the second frame as defenses on both sides tightened in a fast-paced game that saw the ball moving quickly from one end of the field to the other.

Third chukker goals from Magrini and Tomas Goti tied the score at 3-3 before consecutive goals from Biddle, Arellano and Uskup put Barrington on top, 6-3, at the end of the first half.

“Biddle was all over the place,” said player/spectator Jack Whittemore.  “He seemed to be always at top speed and driving the ball toward the Pony Express goal.  He’s the most physical, hard hitting player I can remember,” Whittemore added, “but he still has the touch and ability to handle the ball.”

Whittemore referred to a third chukker goal in which Biddle dug the ball out of the corner, drove it across the goal mouth from the sideboards and then flipped it through the goal posts at a gallop on the nearside.

“He’s very impressive”, he added.

“We figured that Matias (Magrini) was going to change something at the half,” Biddle added, “but we just stuck to our game plan and the team continued to do well.”

Arellano and Goti each scored a pair of goals in the fourth period as Barrington held on to a three-goal lead, 8-5, and then Barrington really got on track.

“I thought we took control of the game in the fourth chukker,” said Barrington 8-goaler Julio Arellano, who was thrilled at the prospect of playing Number 2 in front of Biddle.

“He’s (Biddle) so much fun to play with,” Arellano said.  “I get to play my position and know that he’s going to put the ball up front.”

Goals from Arellano and Antonio Galvan in the fifth were answered by a single Magrini goal as Barrington stretched its lead to four goals, 10-6, as the speed continued to escalate. 

Arellano added another goal in the final chukker followed by two goals from Galvan as Barrington held Pony Express to a single Magrini goal for the 13-7 final.

“I was really proud of my horses,” said Biddle, “they played well for me and did everything I asked of them.”

Arellano led all scoring with six goals.  Teammate Antonio Galvan scored three times; Barb Uskup scored twice and Tommy Biddle added a beautifully placed goal in the third chukker in the win.

Matias Magrini scored four goals for Pony Express.  Tomas Goti added three goals in a losing effort.

“It was a team effort,” demurred Biddle following the game, “it’s a great team to play with, everyone did their job, and everything was going our way today.”

Play in the Waterbury Cup continues on Thursday, September 24 with a 5 pm contest between Bendabout (0-1) and Mavoffice.com.