By Alex Webbe
After Six chukkers of fast – paced, high speed polo, San Saba’s Carlucho Arellano broke loose from the pack and carried the ball over two hundred yards to score the winning goal in the semifinals of the Joe Barry Memorial Cup Sunday at the International Polo Club in Wellington. “It just felt right,” said the Wellington local, “I had the right horse under me, the field was playing perfectly and it knew everything was right.”
The winning goal came just moments after the start of the overtime period that was caused when Sapo Caset scored the tying goal with 13 seconds left in regulation play, and delivered San Saba a 14-13 victory over Isla Carroll.
A back and forth game that had San Saba ahead for much of the game, San Saba was forced to rally in the warning seconds of the game to knot it up.
Arellano scored the opening goal of the match but was quickly answered by two goals from Isla Carroll’s Sugar Erskine.
Goals from Sapo Caset and Arellano tied it at 3-3 in the period with Erskine accounting for the only Isla Carroll goal. Caset and Toto Collardin notched single goals in the third period but Isla came back with goals from Erskine and Owen Rinehart, and the teams left the field at halftime in a 5-5 tie.
The fourth chukker looked like Isla Carroll’s undoing with Caset scoring three times and Collardin adding two goals. Isla Carroll was held to a single goal from Erskine, and San Saba charged out to a 10-6 lead.
Erskine opened the fifth chukker with two more goals before Collardin got on the scoreboard for San Saba. another goal from Rinehart and a goal from Todd Offen closed the lead for Isla Carroll as the chukker ended with San Saba holding on to a narrow 11-10 advantage.
“I thought we were taking control of the game in the fifth chukker,” said Isla Carroll captain John Goodman, “but they just out played us at the end.”
Caset scored the first goal of the sixth chukker to give San Saba a two – goal lead, but Isla Carroll was still red hot. Two goals from Rinehart were complimented by a penalty conversion from Erskine and Isla Carroll tied and then went on top 13-12 with time running down. Both teams pressed in the bottom part of the sixth, but it was Caset who broke loose and managed to put the ball through the goal posts with 13 seconds on the clock. By the time the teams had returned to midfield for the ensuing throw-in, time ahd expired.
After a ten – minute intermission the sudden death overtime period began. Isla Carroll created the first scoring threat by was turned aside by a well-placed backhand shot from san Saba. Arellano jumped on the line of the ball and raced nearly two hundred yards to score the winning goal with the entire Isla Carroll team racing to stop. For the rest of the day, the young Wellington resident would be famous than his teammate, actor Tommy Lee Jones. “It was a great win,” Arellano smiled. “It was a great game.” The victory catapults San Saba into next Sunday’s finals against the winner of Wednesday’s BTA – Patagones game.
Sugar Erskine led all scorers with eight goals. Teammate Owen Rinehart scored four times and Todd Offen added a single goal in the loss.
Sapo Caset led the San Saba team with seven goals. Toto Collardin scored four times and Carlucho Arellano scored three goals in the win.