Tonkawa suffered its first loss of the season and La Casa Hermosa remained unbeaten as they scored a 12-11 overtime win over last month’s winner in the 14-goal Freebooters classic at the International Polo Club in Wellington Saturday morning.

Brandon Phillips scored the first goal of the game to give Tonkawa the early lead, but La Casa Hermosa stormed back to take a 3-2 lead to end the chukker.  Tonkawa picked up a penalty goal from Nic Roldan on a 60-yard penalty conversion while La Casa Hermosa collected a pair of goals from Julio Gracida (one on a penalty shot) and a goal from the field from Jeff Blake.

Roldan scored the only goal of the second chukker as both teams checked their defenses and allowed few opportunities to score.  The score was all even at 3-3 after the first two chukkers.

Gracida added his third goal of the game on a 40-yard penalty conversion for a 4-3 advantage but Tonkawa got it right back on a goal from the field by Agustin Arellano.  At the end of the first half the two teams were deadlocked in a 4-4 struggle.

Jeff Blake put La Casa Hermosa ahead, 5-4, with the first goal of the second half, but the lead was short-lived.  Goals from Phillips and team captain Jeff Hildebrand ended the chukker with Tonkawa on top of a 6-5 score.

Two more goals from Hildebrand (one on a penalty shot) were all Tonkawa could muster in the fifth while Gracida added two goals (one on a penalty conversion) to the La Casa Hermosa score and single goals from Jeff Blake (penalty goal) and Brad Blake gave them the lead, 9-8, with one chukker left to play.

Three consecutive goals from Tonkawa (one from Hildebrand and two from Roldan) had La Casa Hermosa trailing by two goals, 11-9.  Brad Blake rallied the troops and managed two goals to tie it up and force sudden-death overtime.

La Casa Hermosa took advantage of Tonkawa’s lackadaisical approach to the final throw-in and Brad Blake took off with the ball to score the winning goal, 12-11.

Gracida led all scoring with five goals.  Brad Blake scored four times and his brother, Jeff Blake accounted for three scores.  Hildebrand and Roldan scored four goals each.  Phillips was credited with two goals and Arellano added a goal in the loss.

MT. BRILLIANT/EQUINE LAW GROUP 11, VILLA DEL LAGO 9

Mt. Brilliant/Equine Law Group needed a sixth chukker rally to unseat a talented Villa Del Lago foursome 11-9 Saturday afternoon in Freebooters Classic competition at the International Polo Club.

Mt. Brilliant/Equine Law Group took the early lead on an opening penalty goal from Avery Chapman and a goal from the field from Kris Kampsen while holding villa Del Lago scoreless, 2-0.

Kampsen added a second goal in the second chukker but Villa Del Lago exploded for three goals to tie it up at 3-3 at the end of the period.  Argentine 8-goaler Polito Pieres scored twice and Agustin Obregon added a goal for Villa Del Lago.

Two more third chukker goals from Pieres in the third were countered by a penalty conversion from Kampsen and a goal from the field from English 6-goaler Julian Daniels.  At the end of the first half of play it was tied at 5-5.

Pieres gave the lead to Villa Del Lago in the fourth period on his fifth score of the game.  A penalty conversion from Obregon gave Villa Del Lago a two goal, 7-5 advantage.  A Villa Del Lago foul sent Kampsen to the penalty line where he converted the shot for a goal.  The chukker ended with Villa Del Lago guarding a fragile 7-6 lead.

The two teams exchanged goals in the fifth with Chapman converting a penalty shot for a goal and Bo Goodman scoring from the field.  Obregon added a penalty goal and Pieres scored from the field to keep Villa Del Lago in the lead, 9-8.

The sixth chukker belonged to Mt. Brilliant/Equine Law Group as their defense smothered the Villa Del Lago attack while picking up three goals of their own.  A pair of goals from Kampsen (one on a 40-yard penalty shot) and a goal from the field from
Daniels carried them to an 11-9 win.

Kampsen led the Mt. Brilliant/Equine Law Group offense with six goals (three on penalty shots).  Daniels and Chapman scored two goals apiece and Goodman accounted for a goal in the victory.  Pieres scored six times for Villa Del Lago.  Obregon added three goals, two on penalty shots in a losing effort.