By Alex Webbe
Newport rebounded from a dismal 1-3 opening chukker to score a 10-9 win over Black Watch in the finals of the Polo Gear Invitational Cup at the Grand Champions Polo Club Sunday afternoon.
Held to a single goal by team captain Gene Goldstein in the opening chukker, Newport watched Brad Blake (5) and J. J. Celis (5) add to the single goal by handicap it began with to take a 3-1 lead after the first seven minutes of play.
A new Newport team seemed to ride onto the field for the second chukker of play, as it scored four unanswered goals, shutting down the Black Watch defense and taking a lead it would never surrender.
Ignited by a penalty conversion by 8-goaler Hector Galindo, Newport went on a scoring spree with goals from Gonzalo Del Tour (3), Goldstein and another goal from the field by Galindo for a 5-3 lead.
Celis scored a goal for Black Watch in an effort to jump start a flagging attack, but Newport came right back with goals from Del Tour and Goldstein for a 7-4 halftime advantage.
Black Watch played one of its best defensive chukkers of the game in the fourth, shutting down Newport and adding goals by Blake and Pepa to their score to trail 7-6, but could get no closer.
Del Tour added another goal to the Newport total on a well-placed backhander to begin the fifth period before Blake converted a penalty shot for Black Watch.
Del Tour converted a penalty shot for Newport and Galindo scored the final goal of the chukker giving Newport a solid 10-7 lead going into the final chukker of play.
Blake scored his fourth goal of the game on a penalty shot, and Hirsch tapped one through the goal posts to bring it to within a single goal, but it was Newport that left the field with a 10-9 win.
“It was a hard-fought win,” smiled Galindo after the match, “they pressed us throughout the game.”
both Goldstein and Del Tour deferred their respective honors to Galindo.
“He was the one who did it for us,” said Del Tour.
“Hector’s responsible for the win,” added Goldstein.
Gonzalo Del Tour scored three times for Newport. Goldstein and Galindo added three goals apiece for the win.
Brad Blake led Black watch with four goals. Celis added two goals and Martin Pea and Neil Hirsch scored single goals in the loss.
Gene Goldstein was named tournament MVP, and both teams were treated to trophies and gift certificates from Polo Gear.
POWER HORSE WINS CONSOLATION ROUND
In earlier action, Walter Scherb’s Power Horse team scored two consecutive wins in the round-robin consolation match of the tournament.
Kris Kampsen led all scorers with six goals on the day in leading Power Horse to consecutive wins over Audi (7-5½ ) and Pony Express (5-4). Brandon Phillips scored three goals and Austrian stickman Walter Scherb scored twice including a great break away effort against Audi in the second chukker of play. Sunny Hale, America’s highest rated woman player, scored once in the win.
Audi finished second a 1-1 record that included a loss to Power horse (5½ – 7) and a win (3½ -3) over Pony Express.
John Gobin (6) and Diego Arellano (1) scored three goals apiece for Audi. Juan Bollini (7) and team captain Melissa Ganzi added single goals to the effort.
Calixto Garcia (4) scored four goals for Pony Express. Teammate Tommy Biddle (7) added two and Leo Mandelbaum (2) scored once.
Tournament action will continue with the Grand Champions Challenge Cup which is scheduled for May 30-June 8. Teams yet to be announced.