Postage Stamp Farm
beats Newport 11-8, in US Trust final
By Alex Webbe
Annabelle Garret’s Postage Stamp Farm polo team (Annabelle
Garret, Alejandro Gonzalez, Brandon Phillips and Guille Aguero) registered an
11-8 win over Newport (Gene Goldstein, Leo Mandelbaum, Julio Gracida and
Roberto Gonzalez) in US Trust Cup play Friday afternoon at the Grand Champions
Polo Club. The victory boosted Postage
Stamp Farm into Sunday’s 3PM final against Casablanca (Grant Ganzi, Juancito
Bollini, Wes Finlayson and Nic Roldan).
Newport will face Flight Options (Melissa Ganzi, Marc Ganzi, Kris
Kampsen and Juan Bollini) Sunday afternoon’s subsidiary match at 4:30PM.
Newport received one goal by handicap and quickly added to
it in the opening chukker. Consecutive
goals from Newport team captain Gene Goldstein were complimented by shutout defense
in a 3-0 first period.
Guille Aguero scored the first goal of the game for Postage
Stamp Farm as the second chukker got underway, 3-1, and a penalty conversion by
Brandon Phillips cut the Newport lead down to a single goal, 3-2. Goldstein’s third goal of the game was countered
by a goal from Annabelle Garret. The
chukker ended with Newport on top, 4-3.
Phillips tied it at 4-4 with another penalty goal and an
impressive neck-shot from near the sideboards gave Postage Stamp Farm their
first lead of the day, 5-4. Newport was
unable to break through the Postage Stamp Farm defense and trailed by a single
goal at the end of the first half of play.
A refreshed Newport team took the field in the second half
with Julio Gracida scoring the first goal of the fourth chukker to level the
score at 5-5. Postage Stamp Farm
struggled on offense and watched Gracida add another goal for the 6-5 go-ahead
goal that ended the period.
The fifth chukker belonged to Aguero. Scoring the first two goals of the chukker,
Aguero powered Postage Stamp Farm to a 7-6 lead. Goldstein rallied the Newport team with a goal
from the field to even the score at 7-7.
Aguero notched the final goal of the period for a one goal, 8-7
advantage with one chukker of regulation play left.
Phillips opened the final chukker with a goal from the
field, 9-7, and dropped a pass in front of Aguero who converted for a goal and
a 10-7 Postage Stamp Farm lead. Gracida’s
third goal on the day cut into the lead, 10-8.
With less than a minute left, Garret put the final nail in the Newport
coffin for the 11-8 victory.
Aguero led all scoring with five goals. Phillips scored four times (twice on penalty
shots) and Garret was credited with two goals for the win. Goldstein led the Newport attack with four
goals. Julio Gracida added three goals and
Newport received one goal by handicap.