Wins by Piaget andBerlin Polo in 2013 Beluga USPA North American Cup
By Alex Webbe
Alejandro “Piki†Alberdi scored six goals in leading Piaget(Melissa Ganzi, Tommy Biddle, Piki Alberdi and Juan Bollini) to a 9-8 win overBeluga (Misha Rodzianko, Carlos Baez, Michel Dorignac and Luis Escobar) in theopening match of the 2013 Beluga USPA North American Cup Tuesday morning on thegrounds of the Palm City Polo Club in Boca Raton.
The game got off to a slow start, with Beluga being spottedtwo goals by the 19-goal Piaget team, 2-0. Alberdi scored the only goal from the field of the opening chukker asBeluga left the field with a 2-1 advantage.
Consecutive goals from Alberdi in the second had Piaget inthe lead, 3-2, as the Argentine 8-goaler displayed the adept stick-work that madehim one of the game’s top players. Beluga’s Luis Escobar finally broke through the Piaget defense to scorethe tying goal, 3-3, with 14 seconds on the clock.
Alberdi scored his fourth goal of the day in the openingminute of the third chukker to put Piaget back in the lead, 4-3. Three minutes later Michel Dorignac converteda 40-yard penalty shot for a Beluga goal and a 4-4 tie. Piaget’s Tommy Biddle and Escobar exchangedgoals to keep it all even at 5-5, but Alberdi managed a final goal in the last12 seconds of the first half to give the lead back to Piaget, 6-5.
Both teams buckled down on defense in the fourth period, andit wasn’t until there were three minutes left in the chukker that MishaRodzianko scored to deadlock it again at 6-6. Alberdi responded with a Piaget goal at the two minute mark and Belugaleft the field trailing by a single goal, 7-6.
Goals were scarce in the fifth as both teams struggled withaccuracy in the goal area. Piaget teamcaptain Melissa Ganzi scored the only goal as she extended her team’s lead totwo goals, 8-6.
Escobar cut the lead back down to a single goal with a goalin the first minute of the sixth period, 8-7, but Piaget wasn’t ready to giveup. A Beluga foul was converted into agoal by Biddle less than a minute later for a 9-7, two goal Piagetadvantage. Beluga continued to press butPiaget wouldn’t break. Escobar scoredthe final goal in the last two seconds of play, but it was Piaget who recordedthe 9-8 victory.
Alberdi’s six goals led all scorers. Biddle scored twice (once on a penalty shot)and Ganzi added a goal for the win. Escobar set the pace for Beluga with four goals. Dorignac and Rodzianko each scored a goal andthe team received two goals by handicap.
BERLIN POLO 11, ELG 9
ELG (Avery Chapman, Guille Aguero, Kris Kampsen and CarluchoArellano) charged out to an 8-4 halftime lead before falling to a determinedBerlin Polo lineup (Moritz Gaedeke, Hector Galindo, Sugar Erskine and JeffBlake) 11-9 in the second Beluga USPA North American Cup match of the day.
ELG received two goals by handicap and quickly added twomore goals with Carlucho Arellano and Avery Chapman scoring from the field foran early 4-0 lead. Moritz Gaedeke gothis Berlin Polo team on the scoreboard with the final goal of chukker. ELG left the field with a comfortable 4-1lead.
Arellano scored again to open the second period and teammateKris Kampsen converted a penalty shot as the ELG lead was stretched to fivegoals, 6-1. Sugar Erskine scored on apenalty shot for Berlin Polo but at the end of the second period ELG was ahead,6-2.
Kampsen scored two more goals in the third, but Goedeke andHector Galindo responded with single goals for Berlin Polo. The first half ended with ELG brandishing an8-4 advantage.
A refocused Berlin Polo team took the field in the fourthchukker and quickly went to work. Erskine opened the chukker by converting a 60-yard penalty shot, 8-5,and then followed up with a goal from the field, 8-6. Teammate Jeff Blake scored his first goal ofthe day to cut the ELG lead to a single goal, 8-7.
Two more Berlin Polo goals went unanswered as ELG wasshutout for the second consecutive chukker. Erskine tied the game with a goal from the field in the opening minuteof the fifth period, 8-8, and then gave his team the lead with a convertedpenalty shot, 9-8.
Final chukker action saw Erskine score a goal from the fieldin the first 30 seconds of play, 10-8. Galindo converted a penalty shot to extend the Berlin Polo lead to threegoals, 11-8 with two minutes left in the game. Kampsen scored the final goal of the game at the one minute mark and BerlinPolo celebrated the 11-9 win.
Erskine led the field with six goals (three on penaltyconversions). Gaedeke and Galindo scoredtwo goals apiece and Blake added a goal. Kampsen scored four times for ELG (once on a penalty shot). Arellano added two goals and Chapman scoredonce in the loss.
Competition is scheduled to continue in the 2013 Beluga USPANorth American Cup on Thursday with a 9:30AM game between Berlin Polo and Audi(Marc Ganzi, Carlitos Gracida, Nic Roldan and Carlos Gracida, Sr.) followed bya 3:30PM contest between Piaget and Casablanca (Grant Ganzi, Jeff Hall, MikeAzzaro and Mike Azzaro).
Both semifinal games will be played at the Fire Station
Fields in Wellington.