Piaget Black Holds on for Win
By Alex Webbe
A five team field was whittled down to just two, Piaget Black and Piaget White in the finals of the 2010 Memorial Tournament, presented by Piaget, with Piaget Black holding on to score a 10-8 win over Piaget White.
Piaget black received one goal by handicap and quickly ran up the score to 8-3 after the first half of play as Piaget White struggled to find any offensive punch.
Nic Roldan opened the scoring with a goal for Piaget Black in the first chukker before Isabella Wolf got Piaget White on the scoreboard with her first goal of the game. Marc Ganzi gave Piaget Black a 3-1 lead with a goal of his own in the opening period as his team began to roll.
Goals from Lucas Lalor and Roldan in the second chukker were answered by a single penalty conversion from Piaget White 10-goaler Lolo Castagnola to trail 5-2.
Leo Mandelbaum struck first in the third chukker with a goal followed by back to back field goals from Marc Ganzi, and Piaget Black found itself on top of an 8-2 score. Melissa Ganzi tapped a long shot at goal from teammate Juan Bollini through the goal posts for Piaget White, but left the field at halftime trailing by five goals, 8-3.
Piaget White combined determined defense with g
oals from Melissa Ganzi and a penalty conversion from Wolf, cutting the Piaget Black lead to three goals, 8-5.
Piaget White continued to rally into the fifth chukker, getting goals from Wolf and Bollini while allowing a single goal from Marc Ganzi. Piaget black continued to lead, but the margin had been reduced to just two goals, 9-7.
Wolf’s fourth goal of the game brought Piaget to within a goal, 9-8, in the final chukker, but Marc Ganzi and his Piaget black teammates weren’t about to let this game slip away. Hard-nosed defense and a final goal from Nic Roldan shut the door on Piaget White as Piaget Black rode off the field with a 10-8 win.
There were plenty of trophies to be handed out after the match, with Piaget’s Lauren Duffy presenting Piaget White’s Lolo Castagnola with a Piaget Polo 45 Flyback Chronograph watch for earning Most Valuable Player honors. Marc Ganzi’s Mariana was named Best Playing Pony.
Marc Ganzi led the Piaget Black team with four goals. Roldan scored three times and Lalor and Mandelbaum each registered single goals.
Wolf’s four goals led the Piaget White attack with team captain Melissa Ganzi scoring twice and Castagnola and Bollini adding single goals in the win.
NEWPORT 7, PORT MAYACA 5
In earlier action, Gene Goldstein’s Newport polo team scored broke an earlier tie to record a 7-5 win in the consolation round of The Memorial, presented by Piaget.
Newport received one goal by handicap from the 16-goal Port Mayaca team, but quickly added to it with a goal from Goldstein in the opening chukker and single goals from Michel Dorignac and J. J. Celis for a 4-2 lead.
Port Mayaca got goals from Sugar Erskine in the first chukker and Stevie Orthwein in the second in early play.
Goals from Joey Casey and Orthwein tied it up at 4-4 after the first three chukkers of play, as Newport was unable to break through the Port Mayaca defense in the third period.
Dorignac scored the only goal of the fourth chukker for Newport for a short-lived 5-4 lead. Greg Keough charged back to score the tying goal to end the chukker all even again at 6-6.
Gene Goldstein’s second goal of the game in the fifth and Sunny Hale’s sixth chukker score were enough in the end as Port Mayaca was unable to break through the Newport defense in the final two chukkers of the game. Newport took the game 7-5 in a balanced match that saw every player on the field scoring at least one goal.
Goldstein and Dorignac scored two goals apiece for Newport. Teammates Hale and Celis added single goal in the win. Newport also received one goal by handicap.
Orthwein scored twice for Port Mayaca while teammates Keough, Erskine and Casey added single goals.