By Alex Webbe
Sunday’s finals of the 2012 20-goal Ylvisaker Cup was a family affair-with Marc Ganzi’s Audi team taking on wife Melissa Ganzi’s Piaget foursome, but the fast-paced action on the field had all eyes riveted on the play until Miguel Astrada’s seventh goal of the game resulted in a 13-12 Piaget victory.
The Piaget and Audi teams maneuvered their way through a field of 16 teams, the largest number of 20-goal teams ever assembled for play in the Ylvisaker Cup competition.
Jason Crowder got Piaget rolling in the opening chukker of play with a goal from the field followed by a penalty conversion from teammate Miguel Astrada for a 2-0 lead. Lucas Lalor responded for Audi with a well-placed shot through the Piaget goalposts. Astrada scored his second goal of the chukker, as Piaget moved out to a 3-1 advantage, but a final goal from Nic Roldan kept Audi on their heels, trailing 3-2.
Audi cranked it up a notch in the second chukker, picking up a pair of goals from Roldan (one from the field and one on a penalty shot) as they took their first lead of the game, 4-3. Astrada kept it all even at 4-4 with a goal from the field to end the period.
Crowder scored his second goal of the game to open the third to give Piaget a 5-4 edge, but Audi struck back. Three straight goals from Roldan (two on penalty shots and one from the field) turned the game back around, giving Audi the lead back, 7-5. Juan Bollini scored the final goal of the chukker, but Piaget trailed, 7-6 at the end of the first half of the game.
Piaget took control of the pace and the ball in the fourth period. A penalty goal from Astrada was followed by two more goals from Crowder. As impressive was the Piaget offense was, the defense was better. For the first timer all day the Audi attack was shut down as Piaget took a 9-7 lead into the fifth period of play.
A 60-yard penalty conversion from Astrada had Audi ahead, 10-7 with a goal in the fifth, but Audi rallied. Two goals from Roldan cut the lead to a single goal,10-9, as the final horn sounded for the chukker.
The final chukker of the game was the most exciting seven minutes of the day. Lalor scored on an impressive shot in the sixth to knot it up at 10-10, but Astrada answered with a 60-yard penalty goal to give the lead back to Piaget, 11-10. Rodrigo Andrade scored from the field for Audi, to make it all even at 11-11. Crowder scored again as Piaget moved out to a 12-11 lead, but Audi wasn’t through. Roldan scored a penalty goal from 60-yards away to make it 12-12 with less than two minutes left in regulation time. With less than a minute to play, Piaget drew a foul from an opposing player and Astrada connected on his fifth successful penalty shot for the 13-12 win.
Nic Roldan set the pace for Audi with nine goals. Lalor accounted for two goals and Andrade scored once in the loss.
Astrada was credited with seven goals for Piaget. Crowder scored five times and was named MVP for his efforts and Bollini added a goal in the win.
Crowder’s nine-year-old brown mare, Ruby, was named Best Playing Pony.