Action in the USPA Kay Colee Memorial Cup at Grand Champions Polo Club.
(Photo courtesy of Liz Lamont)
ELG (Melissa Ganzi, Kris Kampsen, Juan Bollini and Avery Chapman) scored wins over Newport (Gene Goldstein, Michel Dorignac, Luis Escobar and Kaisser Maakar) and Beluga (Misha Rodzianko, Leo Mandelbaum, Brandon Phillips and Joey Casey) Friday morning in the opening round-robin competition of the Grand Champions Polo Club’s USPA Kay Colee Memorial presented by The Tackeria.
Newport’s Kaiser Maakar scored the opening goal of the match, but with the aid of one goal by handicap and two goals from the field (one from Avery Chapman and one from Juan Bollini, who scored from the throw-in), ELG took the early 3-1 lead.
Kris Kampsen scored his only goal of the match in the second while Newport 7-goaler, Michel Dorignac, converted two penalty shots for goals, ELG continued to lead, but Newport cut the margin to one goal, 4-3.
Melissa Ganzi scored ELG’s fifth goal of the morning to give ELG a two goal lead, 5-3, but a final penalty goal by Dorignac would decide the final score in a 5-4 ELG victory.
BELUGA 4, NEWPORT 2
The Beluga polo team (Misha Rodzianko, Leo Mandelbaum, Joey Casey and Brandon Phillips) took the field for the next three chukkers, handing Newport its second consecutive defeat of the day, 4-2.
In a defensive-oriented opening chukker, Beluga’s Misha Rodzianko scored the only goal of the first chukker for a 1-0 lead.
Three more goals in the second chukker had Beluga in front, 4-0 as Leo Mandelbaum, Joey Casey and Brandon Phillips each scored a goal for the team. At the 3:35 mark of the chukker Casey suffered a fall and was forced to retire from the game. Juan Diaz replaced him, and the game proceeded.
Luis Escobar scored from the field in the final period while Dorignac converted a penalty shot for Newport’s only other goal in the 4-2 loss. The defeat set up the final match of the day with ELG (1-0) and Beluga (1-0) facing one another to decide one of the tournaments finalists.
ELG 6, BELUGA 3
After a three-chukker rest, a refreshed ELG team returned to the field to face Beluga. Opening goals from Juan Bollini and Kris Kampsen were combined with one goal by handicap. Beluga responded with a goal from the field from Leo Mandelbaum.
Second period action saw Juan Bollini and Misha Rodzianko exchange goals for the only scores of the chukker. Joey Casey’s horse went down throwing Casey to the ground and forcing him to be replaced by Juan Diaz. The chukker ended with ELG in the lead, 4-2.
Kris Kampsen scored his second goal of the game and Avery Chapman scored to extend the ELG lead to four goals, 6-2. Brandon Phillips scored the final goal of the game for Beluga, but it was ELG that rode off with the 60-3 victory and an invitation to the tournament finals.
CASABLANCA 11, PALM HOUSE 9
The tournament action continued at 5PM on the Grand Champion fields with Casablanca (Grant Ganzi, Juancito Bollini, Mike Azzaro and Wes Finlayson) battling with Palm House (Johnny Lavin, Marc Ganzi, Nic Roldan and Carlitos Gracida) for the last finals berth.
Casablanca received two goals by handicap from the 13-goal Palm House contingent and went up, 3-0, as Wes Finlayson scored the first goal of the game. Nic Roldan fired back for Palm House, scoring his team’s only goal with just 1:37 left in the chukker. Casablanca continued to lead, 3-1.
Second chukker goals from Johnny Lavine and Nic Roldan had the game all even at 3-3, but Casablanca wasn’t quite through. A great individual effort by Grant Ganzi in the final minute of play gave the goal and the lead to Casablanca, 4-3.
Roldan and Ganzi exchanged goals in the third. Ganzi scored once from the field and once on a penalty shot. Roldan scored twice from the field as Casablanca continued to lead at the end of the first half, 6-5.
Casablanca ran the lead up to two goals in the fourth chukker. While Nic Roldan scored the first goal of the period, Casablanca got a pair of goals from former 10-goaler, Mike Azzaro. Casablanca ended the fourth period with a two goal, 8-6 advantage.
Palm House continued to chase Casablanca in the fifth. Goals from Carlitos Gracida and Nic Roldan (60-yard penalty conversion) cut the Casablanca lead down to a single digit while getting a single goal from Mike Azzaro. With one chukker left in regulation time, Casablanca held on to the lead, 9-8.
Casablanca took early control of the sixth chukker. Goals from Mike Azzaro (at 3:31) and Wes Finlayson (on a beautifully executed nearside fore-shot) had Casablanca on top, 11-8 with less than three minutes left in the game. With time running out, Carlitos Gracida scored the final goal of the match, but it was Casablanca with the win and a date in the tournament finals at 10AM, Sunday morning.