Farmers and Merchants Bank America Cup
The battle for the coveted Pacific Coast Open trophy has finally arrived. After the first week of bracket play, there were many exciting matches leaving all seven teams still in the running to play the finals.
The game that kicked off the Pacific Coast Open was a competitive game between FMB Too! and Lucchese. Jeff Hall started strong with 3 goals in the first and second chukker, but FMB Too! patron, Henry Walker, came back with 2 impressive goals in the second and third chukker. Both teams came out firing, keeping the score very close in the first half, at a riveting 6 – 5 score to Lucchese. After an inspiring half time, FMB Too! continued to rack up points while Lucchese only managed 3 goals off penalty shots in the second half. The final score came down to 12 – 9 in FMB Too!’s favor.
The second game of the day was between BenSoleimani.com and America Cup champions, Farmers and Merchants Bank. Both teams had impressive defense in the first chukker with zero goals put on the board. BenSoleimai.com had enough of the scoreless game and began shooting to goal with accuracy in the second and third chukker, putting 4 goals up to FMB’s 1 goal from Felipe Vercellino’s penalty 4 shot. In the 4th chukker, Tommy Alberdi shocked the crowd with a center hit goal and brought the score to 7 – 3. FMB could not come back from the deficit despite their efforts. The game ended 10 – 7 to BenSoleimani.com.
The 3 PM main match on the grandstand field pitted Sol de Agosto and Klentner Ranch up against each other. Jake Klentner played in place of his injured father, Justin Klentner. The match began evenly with a penalty 1 in favor of Sol de Agosto and 2 field goals from Jesse Bray. Klentner Ranch began to widen the gap with 3 more goals and impressive defense keeping Sol de Agosto to zero field goals and only 1 penalty. Klentner Ranch maintained their strength in the second half with two additional goals from Jesse Bray and one from Geronimo Obregon. In the fifth chukker and sixth chukker, Sol de Agosto found their rhythm again with 4 field goals and 1 penalty shot. But it was not enough to win the game as the score ended at 10 to 8 to Klentner Ranch. Jake Klentner commented on his experience playing for his father, “it was a really fast and open game, I always enjoy getting an opportunity to play and making my dad proud.”