L to R-Luke Tomlinson, Mark Tomlinson, Nic Roldan and Tommy Collingwood.
American 8-goalers Nic Roldan and Mike Azzaro were hoping to make up for the Westchester Cup loss to England just two months earlier, but that wasn’t in the cards. After taking early control of the game, the US team (Tommy Collingwood, Nic Roldan, Mike Azzaro and Ulysses Escapite) saw England (Henry Fisher, Mark Tomlinson, Luke Tomlinson and Nacho Gonzalez) mount a second half rally that allowed them to tie it up in the fifth and win in overtime, 14-13, on a goal from the field from Mark Tomlinson.
Luke Tomlinson scored the first goal of the game, but Tommy Collingwood responded with a goal from the field just a minute later. Single goals from Nic Roldan and Mike Azzaro ended the chukker with the United States riding off the field with a 3-1 lead.
Azzaro scored his second goal of the game just 30 seconds into the second chukker, 4-1, and gave the US a four goal lead, 5-1, at the 4:39 mark. Luke Tomlinson kept England from getting shut out with a closing goal. After two chukkers, the United States held a 5-2 advantage.
England scored the first two goals of the third with the Tomlinson brothers each picking up a goal. Collingwood scored his second goal of the day and Azzaro closed out the first half to put the USA on top, 7-4.
Azzaro converted a penalty shot to open the fourth, 8-4, when the English team began to stir. Luke Tomlinson and Azzaro traded goals followed by three consecutive English goals that cut the American lead to a single goal, 9-8.
Roldan opened the fifth chukker with a goal from the field, 10-8, but goals from Luke Tomlinson and Nacho Gonzalez had it all even for the first time all day at 10-10. Roldan added another US goal, 11-10, but Luke Tomlinson tied it up at 11-11 at the bottom of the chukker.
Henry Fisher scored the opening goal of the sixth, giving England their first lead of the day; 12-11.Roldan tied it up at 12-12 nearly four minutes later. Mark Tomlinson gave the lead back to England at 5:55, 13-12. Roldan won the ensuing throw-in and drove the ball toward the English goal. A racing Azzaro hit the ball through the goalposts to deadlock it once again, 13-13, and force sudden-death overtime.
The US team missed three scoring opportunities in overtime as they ate up the clock with drive after drive. Mark Tomlinson finally picked up the ball with time running out and raced down the field for the winning goal—the second time England would beat the United States in overtime in two months.
The win puts England in Saturday’s finals against Wednesday’s winner of the Argentina vs. Hong Kong contest. The United States will face the loser of the Argentina-Hong Kong showdown for third place.