Mt. Brilliant, Lucchese Undefeated in Barry Memorial Cup Play

Lucchese Wins in OT; Mt. Brilliant Downs Patagones

By Alex Webbe

 

After six grueling chukkers of play in a chilling breeze, Luis Escobar took the ball out of the throw-in can carried it down to the Zacara goal before being hooked on an attempted goal shot.   Trailing teammate, Andres Weisz, tapped the ball through the goal posts for the winning score in the 13-12 game.

The win kept John Muse’s Lucchese (2-0) team undefeated in the 2011 Joe Barry Memorial Cup play at the International Polo Club, and on a collision course with a powerful Mt. Brilliant foursome that also scored an impressive win on the afternoon.

“We just kept on pushing,” smiled Escobar after the game.  “We just didn’t give up.”

Lucchese scored a convincing 18010 win over Patagones on Sunday, and looked to be a tournament favorite, but it didn’t play out quite like that Thursday afternoon.  Missed shots on goal, passes hitting divots, horses hooves or opponent’s mallets, everything that could go wrong for Lucchese seemed to, but the team continued to press on.

Lucchese received on goal by handicap from the 20-goal Zacara team, but fell behind early as Jeff Blake and Gonzalo Del Tour scored goals in the opening ninety seconds of play.

Escobar scored from the field for Lucchese to knot it up at 2-2.  Deltour added a second goal for Zacara, but a pair of goals from Kris Kampsen ended the first chukker with Lucchese holding a 4-3 edge.

Blake scored twice for Zacara in the second but was countered by single goals from Kampsen and Andres Weisz, and the period ended with Lucchese ahead, 6-5.

Zacara managed to step it up in the third, getting a pair of goals from Blake and another goal from Del tour.  Lucchese missed two “should be” goals, but connected on a shot from Weisz.  Lucchese trailed Zacara at the end of the first half, 8-7.

Defenses tightened in the fourth chukker, with the only goals being scored coming on penalty shots.  Blake converted a 60-yard penalty shot while Lucchese responded with a 30-yard penalty conversion from Kampsen.  Zacara continued to hold the lead, 9-8.

Escobar tied it again at 9-9 in the fifth, but goals from the field from Del Tour and Zacara team captain, Lyndon Lea, ended the chukker with Lucchese trailing by two goals, 11-9.

Lucchese continued to press its attack, forcing Zacara into fouls that resulted in penalty shots that resulted in goals.  Three times Escobar went to the line to take a shot, and three times he scored, giving Lucchese its first lead of the game since the second chukker.

With time running out, Blake dashed any celebration plans by Lucchese by scoring his seventh goal of the game, tying it up at 12-12 and forcing a sudden-death overtime period.

After a brief intermission allowing the players to change onto fresh mounts, the umpire bowled the ball in at the center of the field.  Escobar took immediate possession and raced nearly 150 yards down the field toward the Zacara goal.  A defending player hooked Escobar’s mallet as he was attempting to take the scoring stroke, leaving the ball directly in front of the goal.  Trailing teammate Weisz tapped the ball through the posts for the 13-12 win.

MT. BRILLIANT 13, PATAGONES 10

In earlier Barry Memorial Cup action, Nic Roldan scored nine times in leading Mt. Brilliant (2-0) to a well-executed 13-10 win over Patagones, playing under the leadership of the legendary Memo Gracida.

Roldan wasted little time in establishing its dominance on the field, scoring twice in the opening chukker.  Patagones came back with goals from Santiago Wulff and Memo Gracida, but clearly seemed to be struggling with the toxic combination of Roldan and Mike Azzaro.

Mt. Brilliant led 5-4 after the first two chukkers and 8-6 at halftime as Gracida attempted to slow down the pace of the game.  Two more penalty goals from Roldan in the fourth were complimented by a goal from the field from Azzaro and shutout defense as Mt. Brilliant galloped off to a comfortable 11-6 lead.

Patagones got two goals from Gracida in the fifth and another from Carlos Avendano, but a pair of Roldan goals kept Mt. Brilliant on top of a 13-9 score with one chukker left to play.

Patagones continued to press into the final minutes of play, with Gracida converting another penalty shot for his seventh goal of the game, but it was a case of too little, too late.