2006 Championship Finalists were decided today at two different venues.
The first battle….make that war….was fought over at Michael Levin’s Ten Mile Farm.
Buena Vista (11) vs Stone Rows Farm (9)
The first challenge for Kim Foley’s Stone Rows Farms was to be able to figure out how to get to Ten Mile Farms with horses. If anyone has some printed directions, please forward them to us…as we are all still trying to figure it out. Now one member of the Stone Rows Farm had no trouble finding the place and that would be Guilli Aguero. Guilli grew up on that very field as his father Negro worked for Michael for years. But as accustomed to Ten Mile as Guilli was and is, this day the ball was bouncing in all the wrong directions. Buena Vista’s young quarterback, Tatin Zubiaurre took a different tactic. He let the ball settle and then went for the bomb. The strategy worked as Tatin found the goal 5 times and his brother four times. Brother Ezequiel worked hard for all six chukkers, but on this day he found the goal twice in chukker one and again twice in chukker 5. Guilli mounted his customary come from behind attack in chukkers 5 & 6, singlehandedly outscoring the combined efforts of Ezequiel and Tatin. And he did this after taking a serious hit that left him with a badly twisted ankle. But Guilli was two goals short at the final buzzer. But Guilli was the game’s high scorer with seven. Now two goals is a very magic number for Buena Vista. If my math serves me on this….and for a side note, I took Algebra II, twice…isnt that why they call it Algebra II?….anyway….if….if…..Tupungato beats Burnt Mills at Blue Sky on wed, we have a 3-way tie in Bracket I between, Tupungato, Stone Rows Farm, and Buena Vista. In a 3-way tie, you go first to net goals of the games between the teams tied. That would give Buena Vista a positive one net goal, Tupungato has zero net goals, and Stone Rows Farm has a minus one net goal. So Buena Vista nudges out two very talented squads by a single net goal. What an awesome bracket. Now dont forget, Burnt Mills may be reading this and decide they have no intention of giving Tupungato the distinguished honor of second place. Burnt Mills wants a stick in the win column..so we’ll see what happens on Wed. If Burnt Mills wins, then it is a two way tie and it is who beat who. So Buena Vista takes the championship berth in Bracket I.
Now for Bracket II
Smithfield Farm (11) vs Longfield Farm (10)
Today’s second battle at Mashomack was the continuing feud between the Longfields and the Smithfields(out hatfields and mccoys). Longfield Farm are the 2005 defending champions. Very much so because of an awesome performance by Enrique Zavaleta in last year’s final. Well Duke and Juan decided that the next best thing to one Zavaleta is two Zavaleta’s…so…. they brought in the magic mallet of brother Agusto Zavaleta. Now Longfield took care of both other bracket members in short order. Betting money on the sidelines was being placed on Longfield to take not only the bracket…but to repeat the Eddie Moore. However, Smithfield also added a new face to this year’s line-up. And that new face is pasted on to an incredible athlete and horseman by the name of Francisco Bilbao. Let me see…how can I best describe him……I think the best description of Frankie…is…… that he is the real thing…He is all polo player….and what outstanding ponies he sits aboard.
So the two new faces…Agusto and Francisco share a couple of things in common. They are both new faces and they are both nothing but awesome polo players.
So the first ball was tossed. The teams played each other even three apiece in chukker one. Then the anticipated began to happen. Longfield took chukkers two and three by one each…so Longfield was up 6-4 at divot stomping time. Then the two powerhouse teams played each other even in Chukker 4 and in Chukker 6. But Chuklker 5 was Longfield’s Achilles’ heel as Smithfield scored three unanswered goals. Two by a pumped up Julio Ezcurra and one by Bilbao. Now in the sixth, the first two goals were by Longfield…so that put them back up by one….up by one…with not a whole lot left in the chukker. So lets guess what clutch player on Smithfield’s roster nails one from about seventy yards out to tie the game. Was it Bilbao????? nooo….Was it Ezcurra?????..noooo. It was none other than Adam “Clutch” Klopp, our UVA undergrad gets the Diet Mountain Dew Play of the Day in a day full of outstanding plays. Augustine Zavaleta was game high scorer with 7 tallies. Smithfields Bilbao and Ezcurra were close behind with 6 and 5 goals respectively.
More of the Eddie Moore
Wednesday at 2pm over at Blue Sky
Tupungato vs Burnt Mills at 2pm
Wednesday at Mashomack at 6 pm
Polo Do/Supersize vs Smithfield for their last two or so chukkers
The 2006 USPA Eddie Moore Championship Finals
The possibility of friday afternoon is being talked about as a great way to kick off the weekend. Polo…with a whole lot of party to follow…It is either that or saturday…we’ll keep you posted.
Bracket I Champion Buena Vista vs Bracket II Champion Smithfield Farm
USPA Constitution Cup is next for the first weekend of August…Get in your 4 goal entries.