Audi Wins, Grants Farm Rebounds
and Two OTs at
By Alex Webbe
Audi (2-0) stayed unbeaten in USPA Lucchese America Cup play Sunday at the Santa Barbara Polo Club with a 14-12 win over a competitive Valiente team in a morning contest.
Negro Astrada scored the first goal of the match for Valiente but was quickly countered by a goal from the field by Audi’s Luis Escobar. Magoo Laprida put Valiente on top again with a goal, before Audi’s Kris Kampsen tied it at 2-2 to end the first chukker.
Audi came alive in the second chukker picking up two goals from the field from team captain Marc Ganzi and another goal from Kampsen. A smothering defense kept Valiente off the scoreboard and the period ended with Audi ahead, 5-2.
Laprida scored twice for Valiente in the third and Astrada added a goal, but single goals from Kampsen (60-yard penalty conversion) and Bollini held the lead for Audi at 7-5 at the end of the first half.
Valiente managed two goals in the fourth chukker on penalty shots from Astrada, but his efforts were countered by two goals from Escobar and another single goal from Bollini. Audi continued to control the game holding a 10-7 advantage.
Astrada converted a sixty-yard penalty shot and Laprida added another goal from the field in the fifth, but three field goals from Escobar gave Audi a commanding 13-9 lead with one chukker left to play.
Valiente staged a last chukker rally, getting a penalty goal from Laprida and two goals from the field from Carlucho Arellano to pull to within a goal of Audi, but the rally fell short. Bollini ended any speculation as to the outcome by scoring the final goal of the game in the 14-12 win.
GRANTS FARM 13, MANSOUR 10
Ben Soleimani saw his Mansour (0-2) team blow a 7-6 halftime lead as a strong Grants Farm (1-1) team rode off with a 13-10 win in the day’s other morning contest.
On the strength of three first half goals from both Martin Zegers and Santiago Trotz and a single goal from Adam Snow, Mansour managed to rally to take a one goal advantage, 7-6, at halftime.
Grants Farm came back in the fourth period to score three unanswered goals to take a 9-7 lead.
Mansour tried to get back into the game in the fifth chukker with well-executed defense and goals from Soleimani and Zegers. Grants Farm was shut out, and the score was all even at 9-9.
Grants Farm shut the door on Mansour in the final chukker of play on three goals from Jeff Hall and Sugar Erskine’s fifth goal of the game. Zegers accounted for a single goal on a penalty shot for Mansout.
Hall led all scoring with six goals. Zegers led Mansour with five goals on the day.
ERG 14, PATAGONES 13, OT
The day ended with a pair of overtime contests that saw some of the fiercest competition of the weekend as ERG (2-0) outlasted Patagones (1-1) in a 14-13 win that took the game into a seventh chukker of play.
ERG jumped out to an early 3-1 lead after the first chukker of play with two goals from Paco de Narvaez de Narvaez and a single goal from Gonzalo Deltour. Brandon Phillips accounted for the only Patagones goal of the chukker.
Phillips put on a show in the second period, scoring four consecutive goals before the ERG players could load up. Single goals from Deltour and de Narvaez, however, evened it at 5-5 to end the chukker.
Carlos Avendano scored the first goal of the third chukker, followed by a penalty conversion from Phillips, and Patagones led 7-5. De Narvaez chipped in a 40-yard penalty shot before Carlos Gracida answered with his first goal of the game. Ensuing goals from ERG’s Jeff Blake and de Narvaez ended the first half in an 8-8 tie.
As powerful as Patagones looked in the first half, they had trouble scoring in the fourth chukker. Goals from Deltour and team captain, Scott Wood gave ERG a 10-8 lead as it kept Patagones off the scoreboard for the entire chukker.
Patagones cranked it up a notch in the fifth period, resulting in a number of infractions committed by ERG in their own goal area. Phillips converted three penalty shots for goals and Carlos Avendano scored once from the field. ERG relied on single goals from Deltour and de Narvaez to even it at 12-12 as the chukker ended.
ERG scored the first goal of the sixth chukker on a goal from the field from de Narvaez, but before time expired, Patagones came back with a goal from Carlos Avendano to tie it at 13-13 and send it into overtime.
Although Brandon Phillips would end up as the game’s top scorer with nine goals, it seemed only fitting that de Narvaez should score the winning goal for ERG in overtime for the 14-13 win.
LUCCHESE 11, Zacara 10, OT
In a hotly contested, see-saw battle that ended the day’s USPA America Cup competition, Lucchese (1-1) took an 11-10 game from a competitive Zacara (0-2) team in the afternoon’s second overtime match.
Lucchese took an early lead on first chukker goals from Mike Azzaro and Julio Gracida before Miguel Astrada answered with a single goal for Zacara to tie the game (Zacara received one goal by handicap) at 2-2.
Lucchese got single goals from Andres Weisz and Azzaro in the second period but saw Nico Pieres convert a penalty shot and Astrada add a goal from the field to keep it knotted at 4-4.
Azzaro’s third goal of the game gave Lucchese a short-lived advantage before Zacara registered goals from Pieres and Astrada for a 6-5 Zacara advantage at halftime.
Lucchese made some adjustments at halftime and returned to the field on a mission. Disciplined defense held Zacara scoreless while Azzaro scored twice from the field to give Lucchese a narrow 7-6 lead to end the chukker.
Astrada came back with two goals in the fifth chukker and Pieres added another goal from the field to move ahead, 9-8. Lucchese was held to a single penalty goal from Gracida.
Two penalty conversions from Azzaro in the sixth chukker gave Lucchese a 10-9 edge, but Zacara wasn’t ready to roll over yet. Pieres scored his fourth goal of the game to end the period and force the overtime.
A Lucchese charge at the Zacara goal resulted in a penalty in the opening minutes of the sudden-death frame. Julio Gracida scored on the attempt and Lucchese left the field with an 11-10 win.
Competition will continue on Friday in the USPA Lucchese America Cup competition with another four game schedule. The finals are slated to be played on Sunday, August 16.