La Indiana (L to R) Joe Wayne Barry, Mike Azzaro, Jeff Hall, Gringo colombres and Michael Bickford hoist the Joe Barry Memorial Cup following their 13-10 sin in the final Sunday afternoon. (Photo by Alex Pacheco)
La Indiana (Michael Bickford, Jeff Hall, Mike Azzaro and Gringo Colombres) scorched a talented Mt. Brilliant team (Bo Goodman, Jason Crowder, Santiago Chavanne and Julian Daniels) for eleven first half goals and coasted through the final three chukkers of play to record a dominating 13-10 win in the final of the 2017 Joe Barry memorial Cup at the International Polo Club Sunday afternoon.
Jason Crowder, the tournament’s leading scorer with 29 goals going into the day’s play, scored the first goal of the game on a short penalty shot for a 1-0 lead, but that was when the roof caved in on La Indiana. Consecutive goals from Mike Azzaro (penalty conversion), Jeff Hall and Michael Bickford closed out the chukker with La Indiana on top of a 3-1 score.
La Indiana outscored Mt. Brilliant 8-1 over the course of the second and third chukkers for an 11-2 halftime score with the Mt. Brilliant players searching for answers. The hit-and-run attack of the La Indiana players kept Mt. Brilliant back on their heels for much of the game as they trailed 13-6 after five periods of play.
Four sixth chukker goals from Crowder went unanswered as the La Indiana players appeared to be content to ride out the game. The final horn mercifully sounded with La Indiana celebrating the 13-10 victory.
Azzaro led the La Indiana attack with five goals (one on a penalty shot) and earned MVP honors for his efforts. Crowder scored a game-high eight goals for Mt. Brilliant, finishing the campaign with a tournament high 37 goals scored.
Africano, a seven-year-old Argentine gelding, owned and played by Gringo Columbres, was named Best Playing Pony.
Coca-Cola 11, Horseware 10
The newly-coined Horseware polo team (Matt Coppola, Juan Martin Obregon, Mariano Gracida and Tommy Collingwood) made an impressive 20-goal debut as they battled Coca-Cola (Gillian Johnston, Julian de Lusarreta, Julio Arellano and Del Walton) for the Bobby Barry Cup directly preceding the final of the Joe Barry Memorial Cup, losing by a single goal, 11-10.
The 18-goal Horseware team received two goals by handicap and added two more in the opening chukker (one from Tommy Collingwood and a penalty goal from Juan Martin Obregon) for an early 4-3 lead. Coca-Cola got two first periods goals from Julio Arellano (on penalty conversions) and a goal from the field from Del Walton.
Coca-Cola lifts the Bobby Barry Cup in Sunday’s 11-10 win over Horseware.
The score was tied at 5-5 after the second chukker and 7-7 after the third and fourth.
Arellano added his fourth and fifth goals of the game in the fifth (one on a 40-yard penalty shot) with Walton adding his third on the day ad Coca-Cola took a 10-8 lead after the fifth. Horseware managed a single penalty goal from Obregon.
Obregon’s fourth penalty goal of the game was followed by a goal from the field from Mariano Gracida, tying the game at 10-10. It was Arellano to the rescue for Coca-Cola, however, recording the final goal of the match for the hard-fought 11-10 victory.
Arellano led all scoring with six goals but an impressive effort made by the young Horseware team should be remembered. Horseware will be competing in next week’s Ylvisaker Cup, and it should be noted that they are in the same bracket as Coca-Cola.