By Alex Webbe
Friday’s victors in the 2008 Polo Gear Fall Classic were GTP/Newport and Vicomte Arthur, who will meet in the finals on Sunday at noon at the Grand Champions Polo Club.
In the opening match, GTP/Newport struggled through the first four chukkers with Isla Carroll before running off with a 10-7 win, earning it a berth in Sunday’s finals.
GTP/Newport received one goal by handicap to start the game, but an early goal from Isla Carroll’s John Goodman quickly tied it. Marc Ganzi hammered through the tying goal on a fifty yard angle shot from the right side of the goal, but Goodman came right back for Isla Carroll with his second goal of the game to end the chukker in a 2-2 score.
The defense tightened on both sides with each team being limited to a single goal on a penalty conversion for 3-3 score after two periods of play.
Fluid movement and crisp passing continued into the third chukker. Justo Saavedra gave Isla Carroll a 5-4 lead on a well-placed shot from the field, but Gene Goldstein retaliated with a goal on the closing shot of the chukker. The teams left the field at the half in a 4-4 tie.
Gene Goldstein accounted for all of the scoring in the fourth chukker as shot after shot was turned away by backhands and ride-offs. GTP/Newport took a 5-4 lead into the fifth period.
Brandon Phillips maneuvered through the GTP/Newport to score the first goal of the fifth period to pull Isla Carroll even again, but great efforts from Ganzi and Biddle ended the chukker with Isla Carroll trailing 7-5.
The pace picked up in the final seven m minutes of play as Isla Carroll battled to get back into the game and GTP/Newport battled to end it.
Biddle’s second goal of the game made it 8-5, but a penalty and ensuing penalty conversion by Phillips allowed Isla Carroll to get back into the game, 8-6. Goldstein added his third goal of the match, but Phillips countered with another for Isla Carroll, 9-7. Luis Escobar scored the final goal of the game for the 10-7 GTP/Newport win.
Vicomte Arthur 9, Heronwood 6
In the final match of the day, powerful hitting and five goals from the field by Juan Bollini carried Vicomte Arthur to a 9-6 victory over a hard-riding Heronwood team.
Heronwood’s Leo Mandelbaum scored the only goal of the opening chukker. The skies clouded over and the wind from the north grew in intensity. Lofted shots changed direction in the swirling air, and extra muscle was added to each shot to insure its accuracy.
Juan Bollini finally got Vicomte Arthur on the scoreboard in the second chukker, but two more goals from Mandelbaum kept Heronwood on top of a 3-1 score.
Vicomte Arthur charged back in the third period with two goals from Bollini to knot it up, but a finishing goal from Hector Galindo kept Heronwood ahead, 4-3 after the first three chukkers.
Melissa Ganzi opened the scoring in the fourth chukker to even it at four goals apiece, but a penalty conversion from J. J. Celis left the score all even at 5-5 to end the period.
“We had our opportunities,” said Heronwood 7-goaler Hector Galindo, “we just couldn’t finish them off.”
Vicomte Arthur relied on shutout defense and goals from Bollini and Celis to give it a 7-5 lead after the fifth chukker.
An aggressive attack by Heronwood led to a foul, and J. J. Celis made good on it for his third goal of the game. Galindo added his third goal of the game in the sixth, but it wouldn’t be enough. A final goal from Bollini, his fifth, gave the game and a spot in Sunday’s finals of the Polo Gear Cup to Vicomte Arthur.
Play will continue on Sunday, November 3 with a 10am consolation final between Heronwood and Isla Carroll. The championship match for the 2008 Polo Gear Fall Classic will be played at noon between Vicomte Arthur and GTP/Newport.