Seven
goals by Hall carry Casablanca over Palm Beach Polo
By
Alex Webbe
Casablanca (Grant Ganzi, Leo Mandelbaum, Jeff Hall and
Julio Gracida) charged out to a 5-2 halftime lead over Palm Beach Polo (Melissa
Ganzi, Guille Aguero, Juan Bollini and Glenn Straub) Thursday afternoon in the
opening round of play in the 2014 Palm Restaurant Invitational tournament at
the Grand Champions Polo Club but had to stem a late game rally to capture the
game in an 11-9 win.
Juan Bollini opened the scoring for Palm Bach Polo on a
penalty shot in the first chukker.
Teammate Melissa Ganzi scored on a well-placed shot from the field for
the 2-0 lead. Grant Ganzi put Casablanca
on the scoreboard with a goal from the field.
The chukker ended with Palm Beach Polo on top, 2-1.
Casablanca revved up their defense in the second and
third chukkers as they blanked the Palm Beach Polo attack while adding four
goals of their own.
Second period play had Jeff Hall scoring his first goal
of the day, 2-2. Julio Gracida gave
Casablanca the 3-2 edge with the final goal of the chukker.
The Palm Beach Polo offense was frustrated again in the
third as the Casablanca defense held firm.
Goals from Melissa Ganzi and Jeff Hall went unanswered as Casablanca
left the field at the end of the chukker in a narrow 3-2 lead.
Third chukker goals from Grant Ganzi and Jeff Hall
stretched the Casablanca lead to three goals.
Palm Beach Polo was shutout for the second consecutive period and
trailed 5-2 at the end of the first half.
Leo Mandelbaum and Jeff Hall scored single goals in the
fourth as he expanded the lead to five goals in the fourth chukker. Melissa Ganzi scored the final goal of the
chukker on a well-executed shot from the field from over 50-yards out. The chukker ended with Palm Beach Polo in
front, 7-3.
Pam Beach Polo came alive in the fifth, scoring four
times while holding Casablanca to a pair of goals from Jeff Hall. The pace continued to quicken with Juan
Bollini and Melissa Ganzi scoring the opening goals of the fifth period,
cutting the Casablanca lead to a manageable two goals, 7-5. Glenn Straub’s first goal of the day had Palm
Beach Polo within a goal of the lead, 7-6.
Jeff Hall stepped up for Casablanca, scoring consecutive goals from the
field for a three goal lead, 9-6.
Bollini scored the final goal of the chukker as time expired. Casablanca continued to lead, but Palm Beach
Polo was fighting back and trailed by two goals with one chukker left in the game.
A neck shot from Glenn Straub cut the Casablanca lead to
a single goal again, 9-8. Hall took
control of the game scoring as he rallied Casablanca by scoring consecutive
goals, 11-8. Glenn Straub scored the
final goal in the game for an exciting 11-9 finish.
Play continues in the 2014 Palm Restaurant Invitational
on Friday at 3PM with Palm Beach Equine Group
(Gene Goldstein, Jeff Blake, Kris Kampsen and Scott Swerdlin) facing
Team USPA (Patrick Uretz, Hared Sheldon,
Felipe Viana and Jesse Bray). The final
of the tournament is slated to be played at 1PM on Sunday with the subsidiary
match set for 10AM. The final of the
2014 Pedro Morrison Memorial Cup are set for 3PM on Sunday. There is no charge for admission and the public is graciously invited to attend the matches.