By Alex Webbe
Audi scored a 9-8 win over Port Mayaca in the 2009 Texas Polo Challenge Cup Sunday afternoon at the Port Mayaca Polo Club to move into Monday’s finals, as rain and wet fields forced the Grand Champions forces to move its playing venue to the Martin County club site.
Audi spotted Port Mayaca three goals to begin the game and needed every second of regulation time to take the win from the spirited home team.
Kris Kampsen opened the scoring for Audi before Port Mayaca’s Carlitos Gracida converted a penalty shot to maintain the three goal lead. Juan Bollini cut into that lead when he scored on a penalty shot in the opening chukker.
Audi managed to shut out Port Mayaca in the second chukker while adding another goal by way of a penalty shot, and Audi now trailed by a single goal, 4-3.
“Three goals is a lot to give up in any game,” said Kampsen, “but I felt comfortable that we would win once we got into the flow of the game.”
Kampsen and Bollini each scored single goals in the third period while Port Mayaca was limited to a single goal from Carlitos Gracida, and the halftime score was all even at 5-5.
Stevie Orthwein got on the scoreboard for Audi in the fourth chukker as did Kampsen, but goals from Carlitos Gracida and J. J. Celis kept it all even at 7-7 as the chukker ended.
Both defenses tightened in the fifth frame, with Kampsen converting a penalty shot for a short-lived Audi lead. Charlie Muldoon answered his first goal of the day to tie it at 8-8.
In the final chukker, both teams battled up and down the field with shots being made and shots being missed.
With just seconds left in regulation play, a Port Mayaca foul put Audi’s Kampsen in front of the goal where he converted the game-winning penalty shot for the 9-8 win.
Kampsen led all scoring with five goals. Juan Bollini scored three times and Orthwein added a single goal in win.
Port Mayaca got three goals from Carlitos Gracida. Charlie Muldoon and J. J. Celis added single goals in the loss. The team received three goals by handicap.
PALM CITY 15, GRAND CHAMPIONS 12
In earlier Texas Polo Challenge Cup action, the Palm City Polo Club outlasted Grand Champions 15-13 with Marc Ganzi scoring a game high, seven goals.
Ganzi opened the game with a goal on a penalty conversion but Audi quickly found their seats as Trevor Allen scored three consecutive goals to give Grand Champions a 3-1 lead. Julio Gracida answered for Palm City scoring twice and leveling the game at 3-3 after the opening chukker of play.
Both teams pressed their offense in the second, with Audi scoring four more goals. Grand Champions managed three goals, and trailed 7-6 after two chukkers of play.
Allen and Blake added single goals in the third, but goals from Ganzi and Leo Mandelbaum kept Palm City ahead kept Palm City ahead 9-8 at the end of the first half of play.
Palm City got single goals from Ganzi, Mandelbaum and Gracida. Allen scored his fifth goal of the game on a penalty shot. Blake chipped one in, and Audi led by three goals, 12-9.
Both offenses cooled off in the fifth chukker with each team scoring one goal. Palm City continued to hold the lead at 13-10.
Neither team was ready to give up as the final chukker began.
Single goals from Ganzi (his seventh) and Casey were enough to keep Grand Champions at bay. Allen and Blake responded for Grand Champions with a goal apiece in the sixth chukker as Palm City coasted to the 15-12 win and an opportunity to capture a 15-12 game.
On Monday, Palm City and Audi will meet in the finals of the Texas Challenge Cup at 1pm while Port Mayaca and Grand Champions will play in the tournament’s consolation round at 11am. Both games scheduled to be played at Port Mayaca Polo Club.