By Alex Webbe
Leo Mandelbaum scored seven goals to lead the Isla Carroll attack, but it would take an overtime chukker and a shootout to finally decide the winner of one of the opening round matches of the 2008 Pedro Morrison Memorial Cup at the Grand Champions Polo Club in Wellington, Florida.
GTP jumped out to an early 3-0 start on the strength of two goals from Marc Ganzi and a third from young Tommy Collingwood. A talented Isla Carroll attack was unable to get on the scoreboard, and the first chukker ended in a 3-0 GTP lead.
Leo Mandelbaum converted a penalty shot for Isla Carroll’s first goal of the game in the second chukker followed by another goal from the field. This time it was the Isla Carroll defense that shut down the scoring and left the field at the end of the second period trailing by a single goal, 3-2.
Brandon Phillips opened the scoring for Isla Carroll in the third chukker with a tying goal before GTP’s Tommy Biddle answered with his first goal of the game to put GTP back on top. Hector Galindo’s first goal for Isla Carroll knotted it at 4-4 to end the first half.
Ganzi scored his third goal of the game in the fourth chukker, but consecutive goals from Phillips tied it and then took the lead for Isla Carroll, 6-5.
Collingwood tied it at 6-6 with his second goal on the day and Biddle put GTP back on top with his second goal. Mandelbaum tied it again for Isla Carroll. Ganzi converted a penalty shot but two more goals from Mandelbaum were all Isla Carroll needed to hold on to a 9-8 lead after five chukkers.
“I was getting perfect passes from Hector (Galindo).” Leo offered. “All I had to do was tap them in.”
A laudable response to his seven-goal day, but not taking away anything from the precision passes of Galindo; it was Mandelbaum who put himself in position to put the ball thru the goalposts.
Ganzi opened the scoring in the sixth period with another penalty conversion to tie it again at 9-9. Biddle put the ball through the posts twice, and GTP led 11-9. Mandelbaum continued to press the attack, and the deadly combination of Mandelbaum and Galindo struck for two more goals to tie it at 11-11 at the end of regulation play.
Following a 10-minute internal, both teams returned to the field for overtime play, but despite hard riding and long passes, time expired without a goal being scored.
The teams agreed to a “shootout” with GTP finally securing the win.
Marc Ganzi led the GTP charge with five goals on the day. Tommy Biddle scored three goals and Tommie Collingwood scored twice in the win.
Isla Carroll’s Leo Mandelbaum led all scorers with seven goals. Brandon Phillips scored three goals and Hector Galindo added a single goal.
NEWPORT 9, AUDI 8
In earlier tournament action, Newport rallied from a 6-2 halftime deficit to score a come-from-behind 9-8 win over a talented Audi foursome.
Four goals from Newport’s Cali Garcia led the attack, but it was Newport team captain Gene Goldstein who scored the sinning goal in the final chukker of regulation play.
Opening goals from Stevie Orthwein and Melissa Ganzi gave Audi a 2-0 jump start before Newport’s Garcia scored for Newport. A penalty conversion by Newport’s Mauricio Devrient briefly tied it at 2-2, but Melissa Ganzi scored her second goal of the game followed by two more goals from Orthwein for a 5-2 lead after just two chukkers of play.
Audi’s defense shut down Newport in the third chukker, but Orthwein’s single penalty conversion was all the scoring it could muster in the fourth period, leaving the field with a 6-2 advantage.
The second half, however, would be another story. Newport’s Garcia scored his second goal of the match in the fourth chukker with Audi’s Juan Bollini answering back with a goal. Newport continued to trail by four goals, 7-3.
Defensive plays were the fare of the day in the fifth chukker as Newport held Audi scoreless while Devrient converted two penalty shots. Audi’s lead fell to two goals, 7-5.
Garcia scored the first goal of the sixth chukker but was promptly answered by a goal from Steve Dalton, and then Newport took over.
Unanswered goals from Garcia, Justo Saavedra (penalty shot) and Gene Goldstein left the Audi players wondering what had happened. The once comfortable four goal lead had disappeared as Calixto Garcia and company charged up and down the field in a scoring frenzy, taking the 9-8 victory.
Calixto Garcia led the Newport attack with four goals. Mauricio Devrient scored three times and Justo Saavedra and Gene Goldstein scored single goals in the win.
Stevie Orthwein scored four goals for Audi and Melissa Ganzi scored twice. Single goals were added by Steve Dalton and Juan Bollini.
Tournament play has been scheduled to continue on Sunday with an 11 am match between Isla Carroll (0-1) and Newport (1-0) at Isla Carroll. Audi (0-1) will meet GTP at Grand Champions Polo Club at 1 pm.