White Birch earns semifinal spot in Monty Waterbury Cup

Mannix lights it up with 12 goals

By Alex Webbe

“I think that’s a personal best for me,” said White Birch6-goaler Fred Mannix after scoring twelve times in the 14-9 win over CertifiedFriday afternoon in Monty Waterbury Cup play at the Bridgehampton PoloClub.  “We were really in rhythm today,”he added.

The young Canadian polo star scorched the field with agame-high 12 goals with White Birch leading from start to finish.

White Birch (2-1) rebounded from a 9-8 loss last week toCirca to re-establish its position in the six team field with a 2-1 recordand  a spot in the Monty Waterbury Cup semifinalswith an impressive Friday afternoon display of firepower.  

“We hadn’t played in nine days,” said Mannix about thete4ams Saturday loss, “and we had two substitutes playing with us for the first time.”

“We were determined to go through the season without a loss,”offered Mannix.  “The lass last Saturdayreally put an edge on us for this (against Certified) game.  There was no kidding around between playersbefore the game started.”

Mannix scored the first goal of the game followed by apenalty conversion from Tomas Garcia Del Rio. Mannix countered with a penalty goal of his own to end the first chukkerwith White Birch on top of a 2-1 score.

Mannix added two more goals from the field and with teamcaptain Peter Brant scoring his first goal of the contest.  Certified responded with a pair of goals fromMarcos Garcia Del Rio, but White Birch held a 5-3 advantage going into thethird period.

Polo great Mariano Aguerre made it 6-3, White Birch, to openthe third chukker while a resolute defense shut down the Certified attack.  Two more penalty goals from Mannix ended thefirst half with White Birch holding on to a comfortable 8-3 halftime lead.

Mannix added two more goals to the White Birch total in thefourth while Certified picked up three goals from Tomas Garcia Del Rio (two onpenalty shots, one from the field).  White Birch was outscored for the first chukkerall afternoon, but continued to dominate with a 10-6 edge.

Three more goals from Mannix highlighted the fifth periodwhile Certified had to settle for a single penalty goal from Tomas Garcia DelRio.  With one chukker left to play,White Birch cruised along with a 13-7, six goal lead.

“The horses went great,” said Mannix.  “They were a little heavy last Saturday (thesole White Birch loss), but we worked them hard the other day, and they were greattoday.  Mariano (Aguerre) has Califa andSerpico (his top horses) in play, so we were very happy with the way theyperformed.”

Mannix’s twelfth goal of the match opened the finalchukker.  Single goals from the fieldfrom Adam Snow and Tomas Garcia Del Rio cut the final score to 14-9 in adecided White Birch rout.  The loss gaveCertified its second loss against one win while White Birch secured a positionin Wednesday’s semifinals.

Play will continue in the 2011 Monty Waterbury Cup onSaturday with a 4pm contest between Circa (1-1) and Equuleus (2-0), whileHeathcote (1-1) and Yellow Cab (2-0) will face off at 10:30 am on Sunday.