Palm Beach Equine (Enrique Barco, Geronimo Obregon, Gringo Colombres and Scott Swerdlin) rallied for an overtime win against Pony Express earlier in the week, but their luck ran out on Friday afternoon when Equine Law Group (Matias Gonzalez, Marcos Onetto, Del Walton and Avery Chapman) held on for the 11-10 win in the International Polo Club’s President’s Cup qualifier.
The Equine Law Group took control of the game from the opening throw-in as they rang up three unanswered goals in the first chukker of play. Del Walton opened the scoring with a penalty conversion for a goal and followed it up with a goal from the field. Towards the end of the first chukker, Marcos Onetto stole the ball from a Palm Beach Equine player and closed out the scoring with a goal for the 3-0 Equine Law Group lead.
An aggressive attack and fouls got Palm Beach Equine right back into the game in the second period as Geronimo Obregon scored a pair of penalty goals and a goal from the field. Gringo Colombres added a 60-yard penalty shot for a goal and a 4-4 tie. Equine Law Group was held to a single goal from the field from Onetto.
Onetto gave Equine Law Group a 5-4 edge in the opening minutes of the third chukker, but and Enrique Barco responded with a goal for Palm Beach Equine and a 5-5 tie. Fourteen-year-old Matias Gonzalez took the lead back for Equine Law Group on a beautifully delivered open back shot that scored from an impressive angle some 50 yards out. The first half ended with Equine Law Group riding off the field with a narrow 6-5 advantage.
Onetto scored on a penalty shot to open the second half of play, 7-5, but Colombres matches it with a goal from the field, 7-6. Equine Law Group extended their lead to three goals on a second score from Onetto and Avery Chapman’s first goal of the game. After four chukkers Equine Law Group led, 9-6.
Colombres and Onetto exchanged single goals in the fifth period, but Palm Beach Equine couldn’t close the gap, and continued to trail by three goals, 10-7, with one period left to play in regulation time.
Palm Beach Equine charged out of the gate in the sixth chukker. A pair of penalty goals from Obregon and a goal from the field from Colombres tied it up at 10-10 with less than two minutes on the clock. The momentum had shifted and Palm Beach Equine was on the hunt. An unfortunate foul that went in the favor of Equine Law Group ended the drive, and Onetto and company managed to weather out the last minute of the game and preserve the 11-10 victory.
Onetto led all scoring on the day and was named MVP for his efforts. Walton was credited with two goals and Gonzalez and Chapman each chipped in a goal for the win. Obregon’s five goals set the pace for Palm Beach Equine. Colombres accounted for four goals and Barco added a goal in the loss.
Obregon’s mare, Allydesia, was honored as Best Playing Pony.