By Alex Webbe
“It was just one of those kinds of games,” said MVP Kris Kampsen after his Equuleus team eked out a 7-5 win over KIG in first round action at the Bridgehampton Polo Club’s 2011 Hampton Cup.
“They (KIG) must have had over a dozen knock-ins,” Kampsen added, indicating the number of times he and his Equuleus teammates shot at the KIG goal and missed.
Action started slow, with both teams focusing on defense, and didn’t pick up too much after a scoreless opening chukker. Kampsen had an opportunity to score early but missed a 40-yard penalty shot. “I just shanked it,” he said.
Kampsen scored twice from the field in the second while the Equuleus defense held KIG to a single goal from Luis Escobar. After two chukkers Equuleus guarded a narrow 2-1 lead.
Michele Dorignac put KIG ahead, 3-2 in the third, scoring twice from the field. Kampsen nailed the final goal of the chukker, however, and the teams left the field at the end of the first half in a 3-3 deadlock.
“We had a couple of opportunities,” said Escobar. “We had our chances but just didn’t convert them.”
Kampsen put Equuleus back on top again in the fourth with a penalty conversion while shutting down the KIG attack, and the low-scoring affair continued with Equuleus boasting an anemic 4-3 advantage going into the fifth period of play.
KIG came alive in the fifth chukker getting a tying goal from Nacho Figueras, 4-4, and a go-ahead goal from Dorignac, 5-4. Kampsen came to the rescue once again with his fifth goal of the game and knotted it up at 5-5 as the period ended.
A sixth chukker goal from Kampsen had Equuleus on top, 6-5, as KIG pressed its attack.
“We came so close to tying it up,” said Escobar. “The ball actually hit the goal posts and sat there, a foot away from the goal line before it was cleared,” he said.
A reverse of fortunes resulted in Mariano Gonzalez carrying the ball down the field for the final goal of the game, giving Equuleus the 7-5 win.
Kampsen led all scorers with six goals for Equuleus and received MVP honors for his efforts. Gonzalez added a single goal in the victory.
Dorignac scored three times for KIG. Figueras and Escobar added single goals in a losing effort.
Escobar’s Julieta was named Best Playing Pony.