L to R-Alejandro Gonzalez and Gene Goldstein in pursuit of the ball in US Trust Cup play.
Annabelle Garret’s Postage Stamp Farm polo team (Annabelle Garret, Alejandro Gonzalez, Brandon Phillips and Guille Aguero) registered an 11-8 win over Newport (Gene Goldstein, Leo Mandelbaum, Julio Gracida and Roberto Gonzalez) in US Trust Cup play Friday afternoon at the Grand Champions Polo Club. The victory boosted Postage Stamp Farm into Sunday’s 3PM final against Casablanca (Grant Ganzi, Juancito Bollini, Wes Finlayson and Nic Roldan). Newport will face Flight Options (Melissa Ganzi, Marc Ganzi, Kris Kampsen and Juan Bollini) Sunday afternoon’s subsidiary match at 4:30PM.
Newport received one goal by handicap and quickly added to it in the opening chukker. Consecutive goals from Newport team captain Gene Goldstein were complimented by shutout defense in a 3-0 first period.
Guille Aguero scored the first goal of the game for Postage Stamp Farm as the second chukker got underway, 3-1, and a penalty conversion by Brandon Phillips cut the Newport lead down to a single goal, 3-2. Goldstein’s third goal of the game was countered by a goal from Annabelle Garret. The chukker ended with Newport on top, 4-3.
Phillips tied it at 4-4 with another penalty goal and an impressive neck-shot from near the sideboards gave Postage Stamp Farm their first lead of the day, 5-4. Newport was unable to break through the Postage Stamp Farm defense and trailed by a single goal at the end of the first half of play.
A refreshed Newport team took the field in the second half with Julio Gracida scoring the first goal of the fourth chukker to level the score at 5-5. Postage Stamp Farm struggled on offense and watched Gracida add another goal for the 6-5 go-ahead goal that ended the period.
The fifth chukker belonged to Aguero. Scoring the first two goals of the chukker, Aguero powered Postage Stamp Farm to a 7-6 lead. Goldstein rallied the Newport team with a goal from the field to even the score at 7-7. Aguero notched the final goal of the period for a one goal, 8-7 advantage with one chukker of regulation play left.
Phillips opened the final chukker with a goal from the field, 9-7, and dropped a pass in front of Aguero who converted for a goal and a 10-7 Postage Stamp Farm lead. Gracida’s third goal on the day cut into the lead, 10-8. With less than a minute left, Garret put the final nail in the Newport coffin for the 11-8 victory.
Aguero led all scoring with five goals. Phillips scored four times (twice on penalty shots) and Garret was credited with two goals for the win. Goldstein led the Newport attack with four goals. Julio Gracida added three goals and Newport received one goal by handicap.