White Birch Wins Piaget Fall Classic
By Alex Webbe
White Birch scored a 10-8 win over Ikepod Sunday afternoon to capture the 2009 Piaget Fall Classic at the Greenwich Polo Club after trailing early on.
White Birch’s only two losses of the 20-goal season came in the finals of the Mercedes-Benz Cup and the Hampton Cup. Unfortunately, both losses came in the tournament finals, denying the talented White Birch foursome of a tournament win.
Ikepod had a one goal lead at the half and seemed to have it going their way going into the second half of play.
Going into the fifth chukker it looked like it was going to be more of the same, however, as Ikepod cranked up its offense and took a three goal lead, 8-5, but that was when things turned for White Birch.
“We had our chances,” said Ikepod 9-goaler Nic Roldan. “We had the lead going into the fourth and fifth chukkers, but it just got away from us.”
White Birch 10-goaler Mariano Aguerre was credited with leading the team back to victory, although he credited the win to a great team effort.
“We played well in the first chukker and then again in the fifth and sixth,” he said. “We had a bit of a letdown in the middle of the game.”
Ikepod was unable to score in the final chukker as the Aguerre-led White Birch team took control of the match.
“We were playing well,” said Ikepod’s Nacho Figueras. “We were playing well, the horses were going well, and then they came back.”
Aguerre’s 8-year-old Liver Chestnut Serpico was named Best Playing Pony while teammate Santiago Torres received MVP honors.
AIRSTREAM 10, Heathcote 9, OT
Shane Rice led Airstream in a come-from-behind, 10-9 win for third place in the fall Classic.
Heathcote was leading 7-3 after the first two chukkers when Airstream 7-goaler Guille Aguero approached Rice.
He told me that we were being too nice,” said Rice, “he said that we had to get more aggressive, and I agreed with him. From then on, it was a different game,” he said.
The game featured two of the game’s biggest hitters in Heathcote’s Tommy Biddle and Airstream’s Rice, with Biddle scoring twice from midfield while Rice notched one of his game leading five goals from near the 150-yard point on the field.
Airstream trailed Heathcote 9-7 going into the final chukker when Michael Dorignac scored to cut the lead to a single goal. Aguero scored the tying goal late in the sixth chukker to force the overtime.
“Guille (Aguero) found me with a pass about halfway through the overtime period,” said Rice. “I carried to the left of the goal and carefully put it through the goal for the win,” he said.