White Birch Farm patron, Peter Brant.
Peter Brant’s White Birch polo team (Matias Sosa, Hilario Ulloa, Mariano Aguerre and Peter Brant) opened the Greenwich Polo Club’s 2014 season the way they closed it last year, with a win. On the strength of a seven goal performance from Argentine 9-goaler Hilario Ulloa, White Birch broke open a halftime tie with Palm Beach Polo (Glenn Straub, Naco Taverna, Ezequiel Martinez Ferrario and Tommy Biddle) to record the first win of the season, 13-10, in the opening game of the 2014 Tommy Glynn Memorial Cup.
Palm Beach Polo received one goal by handicap from the 20-goal White Birch team but watched while Mariano Aguerre and Hilario Ulloa (penalty goals)
scored single goals in the opening chukker of play. Palm Beach Polo was unable to score from the field in the opening chukker and trailed 2-1 going into the second chukker.
Four more second period goals from White Birch went unanswered with Ulloa scoring once from the field and once on a 60-yard penalty conversion. Matias Sosa and Aguerre added single goals as the White Birch lead grew to five goals, 6-1.
Palm Beach Polo owned the third chukker, scoring five consecutive goals while holding a talented White Birch team scoreless. Tommy Biddle and Ezequiel Martinez scored two goals apiece. Naco Taverna added a goal and the score was all even at 6-6 to end the first half.
White birch got a handle on the game again in the fourth. Aguerre scored from the field and Ulloa converted a 30-yard penalty shot, 8-6. Martinez kept Palm Beach Polo close with a goal from the field, but White Birch team captain, Peter Brant, scored the final goal of the chukker for a 9-7 lead.
Aguerre and Biddle traded goals in the early going of the fifth chukker, but it would be White Birch who would wrest control of the game with away from Palm Beach Polo with Ulloa scoring on consecutive penalty shots to end the chukker on the winning end of a 12-8 score.
Biddle tried to dig Palm Beach Polo out of a hole in the sixth, scoring once from the field and once from the penalty line, but it was too little and too late. White Birch added a final goal from Ulloa for the 13-10 win.
CT Energia 12, Airstream 9
In the second game of the day a balanced CT Energia (Alessandro Bazzoni , Nick Manifold, Joao Paulo Ganon and Kris Kampsen) attack raced out to a commanding 6-1 halftime score before beating Airstream (Peter Orthwein, Guille Aguero, Michel Dorignac and Mariano Gonzalez) 12-9,
CT Energia received one goal by handicap and quickly added to it on a 40-yard penalty conversion for the only goal of the first chukker, 2-0.
Kris Kampsen extended the lead to four goals as he added consecutive scores to the CT Energia total. Guille Aguero finally got Airstream on the scoreboard with a goal from the field. After two chukkers Airstream was trailing, 4-1.
Third chukker goals from Nick Manifold and Ganon were complimented with a disciplined defense that had Airstream scoreless for the second time in three chukkers. The first half ended with CT Energia in front by five goals, 6-1.
Airstream came alive in the fourth chukker. Airstream scored three straight goals to cut the White Birch led to two goals, 6-4 as Mariano Gonzalez, Michel Dorignac and Aguero each scored a goal. Kampsen kept CT Energia from getting shutout, converting a 30-yard penalty shot for a goal. The fourth chukker ended with CT Energia leading Airstream, 7-4.
Kampsen opened the fifth with a goal from the field countered by a penalty goal from Gonzalez, 11-7. Dorignac scored to cut the CT Energia lead back to two goals, 8-6. Goals from Kampsen and CT Energia team captain Alessandro Bazzoni ended the period with CT Energia ahead by four goals, 10-6.
Before Airstream could even get started in the sixth chukker Bazzoni scored to stretch the CT Energia lead to five goals, 11-6. Gonzalez converted a penalty shot for a goal, 11-7, and Aguero added a goal from the field, 11-8. Kampsen and Dorignac exchanged goals to end the game with a 12-9 CT Energia win.
Kampsen led the CT Energia attack with six goals. Ganon and Bazzoni each scored a pair and Manifold added a goal for the victory. Gonzalez, Martinez and Aguero scored three goals each in the loss.
Tournament action continues on Wednesday, June 11 with a 4pm contest between Airstream (0-1) and Palm Beach Polo (0-1).