By Alex Webbe
“I think that’s a personal best for me,” said White Birch 6-goaler Fred Mannix after scoring twelve times in the 14-9 win over Certified Friday afternoon in Monty Waterbury Cup play at the Bridgehampton Polo Club. “We were really in rhythm today,” he added.
The young Canadian polo star scorched the field with a game-high 12 goals with White Birch leading from start to finish.
White Birch (2-1) rebounded from a 9-8 loss last week to Circa to re-establish its position in the six team field with a 2-1 record and a spot in the Monty Waterbury Cup semifinals with an impressive Friday afternoon display of firepower.
“We hadn’t played in nine days,” said Mannix about the team’s Saturday loss, “and we had two substitutes playing with us for the first
time.”
“We were determined to go through the season without a loss,” offered Mannix. “The lass last Saturday really put an edge on us for this (against Certified) game. There was no kidding around between players before the game started.”
Mannix scored the first goal of the game followed by a penalty conversion from Tomas Garcia Del Rio. Mannix countered with a penalty goal of his own to end the first chukker with White Birch on top of a 2-1 score.
Mannix added two more goals from the field and with team captain Peter Brant scoring his first goal of the contest. Certified responded with a pair of goals from
Marcos Garcia Del Rio, but White Birch held a 5-3 advantage going into the
third period.
Polo great Mariano Aguerre made it 6-3, White Birch, to open the third chukker while a resolute defense shut down the Certified attack. Two more penalty goals from Mannix ended the first half with White Birch holding on to a comfortable 8-3 halftime lead.
Mannix added two more goals to the White Birch total in the fourth while Certified picked up three goals from Tomas Garcia Del Rio (two on penalty shots, one from the field). White Birch was outscored for the first chukker all afternoon, but continued to dominate with a 10-6 edge.
Three more goals from Mannix highlighted the fifth period while Certified had to settle for a single penalty goal from Tomas Garcia Del Rio. With one chukker left to play, White Birch cruised along with a 13-7, six goal lead.
“The horses went great,” said Mannix. “They were a little heavy last Saturday (the
sole White Birch loss), but we worked them hard the other day, and they were great today. Mariano (Aguerre) has Califa and Serpico (his top horses) in play, so we were very happy with the way they performed.”
Mannix’s twelfth goal of the match opened the final chukker. Single goals from the field from Adam Snow and Tomas Garcia Del Rio cut the final score to 14-9 in a decided White Birch rout. The loss gave Certified its second loss against one win while White Birch (2-1) secured a position in Wednesday’s semifinals.
Play will continue in the 2011 Monty Waterbury Cup on Saturday with a 4pm contest between Circa (1-1) and Equuleus (2-0), while Heathcote (1-1) and Yellow Cab (2-0) will face off at 10:30 am on Sunday.