By Alex Webbe
Piaget scored a 7-6 win over Newport in the opening game of the 2010 Grand Champions Cup on the fields of the Palm City Polo Club in Boca Raton Friday afternoon, and Barbarossa Leather delivered a 9-5 knockout punch to a listless Audi team to set the stage for Sunday’s final.
The game was characterized by long driving attacks and coordinated teamwork, as Hector Galindo scored the opening goal of the game for Newport. Piaget’s Juan Bollini evened it at 1-1 by the end of the first chukker, and the tone was set for the opening contest of the tournament.
Melissa Ganzi converted a penalty shot and Juan Badiola scored Piaget’s third goal of the game. Carlucho Arellano got Newport on the scoreboard before the final bell sounded, holding Piaget to a one goal lead at the end of the second, 3-2.
Newport team captain Gene Goldstein tied it up, but Badiola’s second goal of the game ended the first half with Piaget holding on to a precarious 4-3 lead.
Ganzi scored her second goal of the game in the fourth chukker to put Piaget up by two, 5-3, but a Newport drive resulted in another Arellano goal before the chukker ended, and the lead returned to a single goal, 5-4.
Defenses tightened, but the pace of the game didn’t. Goldstein scored on a well-executed neck shot and the chukker ended in a 5-5 tie.
The final chukker and the game went to Piaget, getting single goals from Badiola and Ganzi while holding Newport to a single goal from Galindo in a 7-6 contest.
Piaget’s Ganzi and Badiola led the scoring with three goals apiece. Bollini added a goal in the win.
Goldstein, Galindo and Arellano scored two goals apiece for Newport.
BARBAROSSA LEATHER 9, AUDI 5
A talented Audi team fell victim to a balanced Barbarossa Leather lineup Friday afternoon in a 9-5 game.
Unable to mount any sustained attack throughout the game, the Audi attack was held scoreless in three chukkers while Barbarossa Leather’s J. J. Celis set the pace with seven goals in the one-sided win.
Barbarossa Leather’s Joey Casey opened the scoring with the only goal of the first chukker for a 1-0 lead as Audi struggled to generate anything resembling an offense in the opening seven minutes of play.
Two unanswered goals from Audi in the second period changed everything, however, as Sugar Erskine and Carlos Baez drove scoring shots through the Barbarossa goal. Audi went into the third chukker with a slim 2-1 lead.
Barbarossa Leather’s Steven Scott scored his first goal of the game in the third chukker followed by another from teammate Celis. A formidable defensive effort and a weak Audi attack kept them off the scoreboard for the second time in the match, and Barbarossa Leather led 3-2 at halftime.
Celis added two more goals on penalty shots in the fourth, while holding Audi to a single goal from the field from Lucas Lalor, and the period ended with Barbarossa Leather up, 5-3/
Two more penalty conversions from Celis and shutout defense had Audi trailing by four goals at the end of the fifth chukker, 7-3.
Erskine came up strong in the final chukker of the game, but it was a matter of too little too late as both of his goals were countered by Celis in the 9-5 Barbarossa Leather win.
The victory vaulted Barbarossa Leather into Sunday’s noon finals against Piaget while Audi and Newport will meet in a 10 am consolation match.