USPA Monty Waterbury Cup

Biddle Neckshot from 110-Yards Scores Win

By Alex Webbe

With seconds remaining in the final chukker and the score knotted at 16-16, Barrington’s Antonio Galvan knocked the ball in and teammate Tommy Biddle picked it up on the forty-yard line and carried it over 150-yards down the field, along the sideboards before unleashing the shot of the season- a 110-foot neckshot that carried through the goal posts for the win in the second round of play in the 2009 USPA Monty Waterbury Cup in Aiken Friday afternoon.

“Holy smoke,” Julio Arellano remarked about the shot after the game. “It was just unbelievable,” he added.

Goose Creek took an early 3-2 lead after the first chukker and lead throughout the afternoon as Barrington struggled with its game early on.

“We weren’t taking our men, we were looking for the ball, we weren’t passing the ball to one another, it was awful,” said Arellano.

“Julio (Arellano) pretty much jumped all over us at halftime,” said Biddle, “and he had every right to.  We weren’t playing smart polo.”

Trailing 9-5 after the first three chukkers, a reorganized Barrington team returned to the field in the fourth chukker.  Outscoring Goose Creek 3-2, Barrington continued to trail, but cut the lead to three goals, 11-8.

“We just got after it, one goal at a time,” said Biddle.

Arellano and Biddle each scored a pair of goals in the fifth chukker while holding Goose Creek to three goals, and the Goose Creek lead narrowed to two goals, 14-12.

It was in the final chukker that Biddle was fouled in a severe collision that stopped play and called for the replacement of his mount.  Biddle suffered an injury that nearly sidelined him, but pressed on.

Barrington picked up the action with the determination of a desperate team. 

Adam Snow tallied his eighth goal of the match on a penalty shot, but Barrington would not be deterred.

An aggressive attack produced nearly half-a-dozen fouls, with Arellano connecting on four of them and Barb Uskup notching another.

With the score all even at 16-16, a missed scoring opportunity for Goose Creek sent the ball over the end line with less than 40 seconds on the clock.  That’s when it happened.

Galvan knocked the ball into play, and Biddle was off with it.  Three hundred yards later and with just five seconds remaining on the clock, the ball went through the Goose Creek goal posts for the 17-16 Barrington (2-0) win.  Goose Creek (1-1) came up short after controlling the game for most of the first five chukkers.

Adam Snow led the Goose Creek team with eight goals.  Martin Zegers scored four times and Maureen Brennan and Cote Zegers added two goals apiece in the loss.

Julio Arellano scored eight times for Barrington with Biddle and Galvan adding four goals each.  Uskup scored once on a penalty shot in the win.

Westbury Cup play will continue on Sunday, September 27 with a 5 pm game between Pony Express (0-1) and Bendabout (0-2).