By Alex Webbe

As I continue to read about the 24-goal Audi team competing against its poor “out gunned” rival teams competing for the West Coast’s most prestigious trophy I have to step back and attempt to properly assess the strengths and weaknesses of tow of the fields top teams-Audi and Zacara.
As I review the America Cup competition, in which Audi rallied for a come-from-behind win over a Zacara team that had been described as “unstoppable”, I get a much different picture of Audi in regards to Zacara.
With both teams posting identical 3-0 records to make it into the finals of the America Cup, it must be noted that although Audi led the field with 44 goals in preliminary competition for a 14.6 goals-per-game average (Zacara scored 38 goals for a 12.6 goals-per-game average), Zacara gave up a miserly 27 goals over its first three games for a cup-leading 9 goals-per-game defense yield. Audi gave up a total of 36 goals for an average of 12 goals-per-game.
Zacara’s average margin of victory leading up to the finals was 3.6 goals compared to an average victory margin of 2.6 for Audi.
The America Cup finals had Audi scoring a come-from-behind win over Zacara after trailing by five goals (8-3) at halftime-hardly a blowout!
Reviewing the scores of the preliminary rounds of the Pacific Coast Open we see the same scoring pattern emerging again with Audi averaging 14.5 goals-per-game (Zacara has been scoring an average of 13.5 GPG) while Zacara leads the entire field with the fewest number of goals-per-game (8) surrendered (Audi has been giving up an average of 10.25 GPG).
The Margins of victory in Pacific Coast Open play are a margin of 4.5 goals-per-game by Audi while Zacara’s margin of victory has been 5.3.
So enough about Audi being a 24-goal team, it’s time to focus on some other exciting aspects of PCO competition.
As far as I’m concerned, the success of the Lucchese team trumps any concerns about team handicaps as it rebounded from a 0-4 America Cup performance to post a remarkable 3-1 mark in Pacific Coast Open Competition. Under the leadership of the legendary Carlos Gracida, Lucchese (Gracida, John Muse, Andres Weisz and Jason Crowder) turned it around in remarkable fashion, scoring wins over ERG (13-12), Grand Champions/Klentner Ranch (17-14) and Long Beach (15-14) before being scuttled (13-14) by Carlos’ older brother Memo and the Piocho Ranch team.
Lucchese’s efforts were rewarded with a spot in Thursday’s semifinals against Audi, and regardless of the results, John Muse has to be happy with the results of his first entry in the PCO.
So we look ahead to Thursday’s 10 am semifinals as Audi rides a perfect 12-0 record (having won both the America Cup and the Skene Trophy) onto the field against a recharged Lucchese team. At noon, Zacara, the 2007 defending Pacific Coast Open Champion, will face a talented Grants Farm lineup.
Consolation matches will be played between ERG and Grand Champions, while Piocho Ranch will take on Long Beach.
There’s another week of Open play, and no shortage of drama as teams are already reorganizing themselves for next year’s season at Santa Barbara.

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