Palm
Beach Polo wins in overtime, 10-9
By
Alex Webbe
After watching the rain and walking the wet fields, polo
finally returned to the Greenwich Polo Club fields with Airstream (Peter
Orthwein, Guille Aguero, Michel Dorignac and Mariano Gonzalez) facing Palm
Beach Polo (Glenn Straub, Naco
Taverna, Ezequiel Martinez Ferrario and Tommy Biddle).
Guille Aguero scored the first goal of the game for Airstream
to tie it at 1-1 (Palm Beach Polo received one goal by handicap from the
20-goal Airstream team). Fouls sent Palm
Beach Polo’s Tommy Biddle to the penalty line twice where he converted from 30-yards
and 40-yards. Palm Beach Polo rode off
the field at the end of the first with a 3-1 lead.
The two teams traded goals in the second period with
Airstream team captain Peter Rizzo scoring the opening goal to cut the Palm
Beach Polo lead to a single goal, 3-2.
Naco Taverna converted a 60-yard penalty shot for a 4-2 Palm Beach Polo
advantage. Gonzalez and Biddle scored on
penalty shots for their respective teams to end the chukker with Airstream
trailing by two goals, 5-3.
Both defenses stepped it up a notch in the third, with
goals being at a premium. Aguero scored
the only goal of the chukker, cutting the Palm Beach Polo to a single goal,
5-4, at the end of the first half.
A refreshed Airstream team took the field in the second
half with abandonment. Solid defense supported
a pair of goals from the field from Aguero as Airstream took the lead, 6-5.
Taverna tied it at 6-6 in the opening minute of the fifth
chukker and teammate Ezequiel Martinez scored his first goal of the game to put
Palm Beach Polo back on top, 7-6.
Gonzalez tied it up at 7-7 with his first goal from the field to end the
period.
Glen Straub gave the lead back to Palm Beach Polo with a
goal in the sixth, 8-7, but penalty goals from Gonzalez and Michel Dorignac had
Airstream back on top, 9-8 with time running out. Taverna tied it up on a well-executed shot,
9-9, with seconds on the clock, forcing a sudden-death overtime chukker.
Palm Beach Polo and Airstream made early runs at goal
that were unsuccessful, but Palm Beach Polo continued to press the attack. Martinez took a backhand pass from Taverna
and blistered the ball through the goal posts from 70-yards out for the winning
goal, 10-9.
“I think that when we opened the game up,†said Biddle, “the
game flowed so much better for us. We
got into a rhythm and weren’t always trying to dig our way out of our end of
the field,†added the game’s MVP.
On Monday, June 23rd, White
Birch Farm (Matias Sosa, Hilario Ulloa, Mariano Aguerre and Peter Brant) will
play C.T Energia (Alessandro Bazzoni, Nick Manifold, Joao Paulo Ganon and Kris
Kampsen). Both White Birch Farm (1-0) and CT Energia (1-0) won their opening
games and will be looking to stay undefeated as preliminary play continues.