After watching the rain and walking the wet fields, polo finally returned to the Greenwich Polo Club fields with Airstream (Peter Orthwein, Guille Aguero, Michel Dorignac and Mariano Gonzalez) facing Palm Beach Polo (Glenn Straub,  Ezequiel Martinez, Naco Taverna and Tommy Biddle).

Palm Beach Polo's Naco Taverna.

Palm Beach Polo’s Naco Taverna.

Guille Aguero scored the first goal of the game for Airstream to tie it at 1-1 (Palm Beach Polo received one goal by handicap from the 20-goal Airstream team).  Fouls sent Palm Beach Polo’s Tommy Biddle to the penalty line twice where he converted from 30-yards and 40-yards.  Palm Beach Polo rode off the field at the end of the first with a 3-1 lead.

The two teams traded goals in the second period with Airstream team captain Peter Rizzo scoring the opening goal to cut the Palm Beach Polo lead to a single goal, 3-2.  Naco Taverna converted a 60-yard penalty shot for a 4-2 Palm Beach Polo advantage.  Gonzalez and Biddle scored on penalty shots for their respective teams to end the chukker with Airstream trailing by two goals, 5-3.

Both defenses stepped it up a notch in the third, with goals being at a premium.  Aguero scored the only goal of the chukker, cutting the Palm Beach Polo to a single goal, 5-4, at the end of the first half.

A refreshed Airstream team took the field in the second half with abandonment.  Solid defense supported a pair of goals from the field from Aguero as Airstream took the lead, 6-5.

Taverna tied it at 6-6 in the opening minute of the fifth chukker and teammate Ezequiel Martinez scored his first goal of the game to put Palm Beach Polo back on top, 7-6.  Gonzalez tied it up at 7-7 with his first goal from the field to end the period.

Glen Straub gave the lead back to Palm Beach Polo with a goal in the sixth, 8-7, but penalty goals from Gonzalez and Michel Dorignac had Airstream back on top, 9-8 with time running out.  Taverna tied it up on a well-executed shot, 9-9, with seconds on the clock, forcing a sudden-death overtime chukker.

Palm Beach Polo and Airstream made early runs at goal that were unsuccessful, but Palm Beach Polo continued to press the attack.  Martinez took a backhand pass from Taverna and blistered the ball through the goal posts from 70-yards out for the winning goal, 10-9.

“I think that when we opened the game up,” said Biddle, “the game flowed so much better for us.  We got into a rhythm and weren’t always trying to dig our way out of our end of the field,” added the game’s MVP.

On Monday, June 23rd, White Birch Farm (Matias Sosa, Hilario Ulloa, Mariano Aguerre and Peter Brant) will play C.T Energia (Alessandro Bazzoni, Nick Manifold, Joao Paulo Ganon and Kris Kampsen). Both White Birch Farm (1-0) and CT Energia (1-0) won their opening games and will be looking to stay undefeated as preliminary play continues. On Monday, June 23rd, the battle of the unbeatens will pit White Birch Farm (Matias Sosa, Hilario Ulloa, Mariano Aguerre and Peter Brant) against C.T Energia (Alessandro Bazzoni, Nick Manifold, Joao Paulo Ganon and Kris Kampsen). Both White Birch Farm (1-0) and CT Energia (1-0) won their opening games and will be looking to stay undefeated as preliminary play continues.

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