Surprises as Pacific Coast Open Begins
By Alex Webbe
It may have been no surprise that Adolfo Cambiaso led his Lucchese team to a 12-8 win over Grants Manor, but the balance of the day was filled with surprises as the opening round of the 2010 Bombardier Pacific Coast Open got off to a roaring start at the Santa Barbara Polo Club on Sunday.
ERG and Zacara scored early upsets with Scott Wood’s ERG team riding past last week’s America Cup finalist Piocho team 11-10 while Zacara rallied to score a 12-10 win over Skene Cup finalist Valiente in the day’s two morning contests.
Silvestre Donovan and Paco de Narvaez combined for seven goals in the first two chukkers while holding Piocho to a single goal from Memo Gracida as it galloped off to a commanding 7-4 halftime lead.
Piocho cut the ERG lead to a 7-4 thanks to three unanswered goals from Carlos Gracida in the third, but despite outscoring ERG 6-5 for the balance of the match, Piocho would suffer its first loss of Pacific Coast Open play.
Carlos Gracida finished match with a game high seven goals and brother Memo scored three times in the Piocho loss.
Donovan and de Narvaez scored five goals apiece and Santiago Torres added a goal in the 11-10 win.
Geronimo Obregon took the field for Piocho in place of team captain Tom Barrack who sat out with a broken hand.
ZACARA 12, VALIENTE 10
In the morning’s second upset, Zacara rallied from a 7-5 halftime deficit to score a 12-10 win over a strong Valiente side, with 8-goaler Jeff Hall scoring ten times for a resurrected Zacara foursome.
Hall opened the scoring by converting a pair of 60-yard penalty shots followed by two goals from the field from Valiente’s Nacho Astrada. Carlitos Gracida scored a goal from the field for Zacara, and Valiente left the field after the opening chukker trailing 3-2.
Valiente got a pair of goals from Kris Kampsen and a penalty goal from Astrada in the second period while holding Zacara to a single penalty goal from Hall. Valiente took a narrow 5-4 edge after two periods of play.
Penalty goals from Kampsen and Astrada gave Valiente a 7-5 halftime lead, as the Colorado-based team held Zacara to a single penalty goal (Hall) in the third.
The fourth chukker and poor penalty shooting proved to be Valiente’s undoing as Hall added three more goals for Zacara. Hilario Ulloa’s first goal of the game gave Zacara a 9-7 lead after four chukkers of play, and both teams felt the momentum change hands.
Two more penalty goals from Hall in the fifth kept Zacara on top in spite of a three goal effort from Astrada. The lead was cut to a single goal, but it was Zacara that carried an 11-10 lead into the final chukker.
Standout defense by Zacara and a final penalty goal from Hall spelled the end of the match, with Valiente falling 12-10.
Hall led all scoring with ten goals on the day, eight of them on penalty shots. Ulloa and Gracida scored single goals in the win.
Astrada led the Valiente team with seven goals. Teammate Kampsen added three goals in a losing effort.
Hall converted eight of nine penalty shots taken on the day while Valiente’s penalty shooting was a dismal four of eight.
Our strategy was to eliminate Kris (Kampsen) from the offense and force Nacho (Astrada) to carry the team, and it worked,†said Hall. The high-scoring Kampsen was held to a pair of goals from the field and a single penalty goal as troubled foul shooting had Kampsen and Astrada taking turns in an effort to bring some consistency to the foul line.
“They’re a tough team,†a delighted Hall offered, “we played them hard throughout the game and came out on top. It was a great team effort.â€
LUCCHESE 12, GRANTS FARM 8
Lucchese scored early and often, getting first chukker goals from Andres Weisz and team captain John Muse for a 2-0 first chukker lead. Three more goals from 10-goaler Adolfo Cambiaso in the second frame were offset by a pair of goals from Sugar Erskine, with Grants Farm trailing 5-2 after the first fifteen minutes of play.
Cambiaso converted his fourth penalty shot of the day in the third, with Erskine’s penalty conversion accounting for the balance of the scoring. Lucchese took a 6-3 lead to the sidelines with them at the end of the first half of play.
Mat Laden (filling in for injured team captain, Andy Busch) scored the first goal of the fourth chukker, but Lucchese answered swiftly. Two goals from Cambiaso and a goal from the field from Weisz, and Lucchese took a 9-4 lead.
A single goal in the fifth chukker from Erskine was answered by a pair of goals from Cambiaso and another goal from Weisz. With one period to play, Lucchese commanded a 12-5 lead.
Erskine added two more goals in the sixth, and teammate Jeff Blake scored the last goal, as Lucchese appeared to be saving its horses for its next contest. Time expired with Lucchese on the winning end of a 12-8 score.
Cambiaso scored seven times for Lucchese. Weisz added three goals and Jason Crowder and Muse added single goals for the win.
Erskine’s six goals led the Grants Farm attack. Blake and Laden added single goals in the loss.
Mansour 12, Audi 10
For the second time on the day, poor penalty shooting might have been the difference in a hotly contest game that saw Mansour rebound from a 6-4 halftime score to best Audi 12-10 in the day’s feature 3pm game.
Four goals from Juan Bollini and single goals from team captain Marc Ganzi and 10-goaler Lolo Castagnola had Audi leading, 6-4, at the end of the first three chukkers of play.
Mansour was held to a pair of goals from Santiago Toccalino, a penalty goal from Martin Zegers and a goal from the field from Luis Escobar.
“I thought our teamwork was the difference,†said Escobar after the match. I thought we limited their attack and took advantage of opportunities.â€
After converting three earlier penalty shot attempts, Audi missed two 60-yard penalty shots in the third.
A hard fall sidelined Mansour team captain Ben Soleimani in the third chukker, with young Tony Uretz filling in for the remainder of the game.
Two field goals from Zegers and a penalty goal from Escobar had Mansour taking a narrow 7-6 lead after the fourth, with the Mansour attack keeping Audi off of the scoreboard for the entire chukker.
Zegers scored his fourth goal of the game to open the fifth period. Two goals from Escobar had Mansour on top, 10-6, before Bollini’s penalty goal ended the scoring for the chukker. Mansour held a 10-7 advantage with just seven minutes to play.
Single goals from Ganzi, Bollini and Castagnola wouldn’t be enough, as Mansour got goals from Toccalino and Escobar to close out the game in a 12-10 Mansour win.
Action will continue on Thursday, August 19 with Mansour (1-0) dong battle with Lucchese (1-0); ERG (1-0) meeting Zacara (1-0); while Audi (0-1) will face off against Grants Farm (0-1); and Piocho (0-1) going at it with Valiente (0-1).