La Fe and CK Polo Produce High-Octane Offense in Ylvisaker Cup Wins
The second day of competition in the Ylvisaker Cup at International Polo Club Palm Beach (IPC) began with La Fe facing Beverly Polo on Isla Carroll East. Both teams looking for their first win of the tournament battled heavy rains with La Fe breaking through in the fourth chukker on four goals from the 30-yard line, carrying the lead to a dominant 12-6 victory. A reprieve from the storm allowed Patagones and CK Polo to take to Field 4, where a phenomenal twelve goal performance from Kristos “Keko” Magrini pushed CK Polo past Patagones 16-11.
La Fe’s Robi Bilbao kicked-off the scoring under dreary skies, only to be answered in quick succession by Beverly Polo’s leading scorer Jorge “Tolito” Fernandez Ocampo Jr. Following a second La Fe score from Lucas Escobar, an energized Hilario Figueras took the ball to the goal for Beverly Polo on a breakaway with Lucas Diaz Alberdi following-up for an early 4-3 Beverly Polo lead. Not to be deterred by their one goal deficit, a grinding Louis Devaleix found the posts for his second goal of the tournament, as a Penalty 2 from Francisco Elizalde pushed La Fe to a 5-4 lead at halftime.
Committing nine fouls in their previous game, Beverly Polo would send 9-goaler and La Fe’s top scorer Elizalde to the line three times, followed by Escobar for a total of four successful Penalty 2 conversions. Despite a Penalty 3 from Ocampo Jr., Beverly Polo suddenly found themselves needing to regroup from a self-inflicted three goal deficit. As the rain steadily increased, generating scoring opportunities became a challenge with Bilbao sinking the only goal for either team in the fifth chukker. Two more goals from Elizalde, including his fifth penalty conversion sealed all but sealed the victory for La Fe, where a final Penalty 4 for Ocampo Jr. could not overcome the early foul troubles of Beverly Polo, as La Fe claimed a statement 12-6 win.
Coming off a solid performance in his previous game with seven goals, a confident Magrini found the scoreboard first for CK Polo on three consecutive goals, including two from the foul line. In a game defined by penalties, Patagone’s veteran leader Tomas Garcia del Rio stepped up to the line three times in the second chukker, in an early back-and-forth contest between Garcia del Rio and Magrini. With CK Polo awarded a Penalty 1 in the second, Magrini continued his early offensive blitz adding an additional three goals in the third chukker. A late goal from Benjamin Avendano from the field was not enough to counter Magrini’s stunning 6 goal first half, as CK Polo took an 8-6 lead into halftime.
Unwilling to let Patagones back into the game, an early Penalty 1 followed by a Penalty 5 for substitute Federico Panzillo saw CK Polo take an early two goal swing to begin the second half. Garcia del Rio managed to answer with a Penalty 4, but the power of Magrini could not be denied as he added another three goals in the fourth chukker. Attempting to claw back into contention, Garcia del Rio and Benjamin Avendano made a late push combining for four more goals, however, the inability for Patagones’ to effectively cover Magrini left him space to cap off his incredible day with another two from the line and one from the field. Accounting for twelve of CK Polo’s sixteen goals, the dynamism of a young Magrini combined with the fouling troubles of Patagones empowered CK Polo to comfortably take the 16-11 win.
Action in the Ylvisaker Cup continues on Sunday, January 30 between La Fe and CK Polo at 11:00 am ET, while the featured game of the week will follow at 3:00pm ET with Patagones facing Beverly Polo.
Photo Credit ©Alex Pacheco