Audi (Marc Ganzi, Juancito Bollini, Brandon Phillips and Juan Bollini) scored a 12-11 win over Newport (Gene Goldstein, Guille Aguero, Luis Escobar and Kaisser Maakar) Sunday morning at the Grand Champions Polo Club in the finals of the USPA Fall Classic.
MVP, Guille Aguero led the Newport attack with five goals.
Audi took an early 3-2 lead on single goals from Marc Ganzi, Juancito Bollini and Juan Bollini. Guille Aguero accounted for both of Newport’s first chukker goals.
Newport team captain Gene Goldstein converted a 40-yard penalty shot to open the second chukker, with Ganzi responding with a like penalty conversion, 4-3. Aguero closed out the scoring in the period with a well-placed 90-yard shot from the field for a 4-4 deadlock.
Juan Bollini and Aguero exchanged goals to open the third, 5-5, when the Audi attack took control of the field. Brandon Phillips and Ganzi added single goals to end the first half on the winning end of a 7-5 score.
The Audi charge continued into the second half, with fourth chukker goals from Juancito Bollini and Phillips extending the lead to four goals, 9-5 before Newport responded. Escobar converted a penalty shot to close out the period, trailing Audi 9-6.
Ganzi opened the fifth chukker with a goal from the field in the first 15 seconds of play. Juancito Bollini scored to extend the Audi led to five goals, 11-6. Escobar scored the final two goals of the chukker (one from the field and one on a penalty conversion), but Audi continued to lead, 11-8.
Aguero and Phillips traded goals in the opening minutes of the sixth chukker. Audi was still on top, 12-9. Goldstein added another with just over a minute left in regulation time, and Escobar tapped the ball through for the final goal of the match, but Audi never gave up the lead and held on for the 12-11 win.
Aguero led all scoring with five goals and was named MVP for his efforts. Escobar scored four times and Goldstein added two in the loss. Ganzi’s four goals led a balanced Audi attack. Juancito Bollini and Phillips accounted for three goals apiece with Juan Bollini adding two goals.
Yahoo, 6-year-old gray mare owned by Halo Polo and played by Guille Aguero received Best Playing Pony honors.
BELUGA 10, CASABLANCA 7
In the afternoon’s consolation round of play, Beluga (Misha Rodzianko, Leo Mandelbaum, Carlitos Gracida and Joey Casey) registered a 10-7 victory over Casablanca (Grant Ganzi, Matt Coppola, Kris Kampsen and Wes Finlayson) behind a five goal performance by Leo Mandelbaum.
Carlitos Gracida opened up the game with a 40-yard penalty conversion less than 30 seconds into play and Leo Mandelbaum added a goal for a 2-1 score (Casablanca received one goal by handicap from the 12-goal Beluga team).
Second chukker goals from Gracida and Misha Rodzianko went unanswered and had Beluga on top of a 4-1 score as Casablanca struggled to find any rhythm.
Mandelbaum’s second goal of the game had Beluga up, 5-1 before Casablanca finally responded. Single goals from Kris Kampsen and Matt Coppola cut the margin to two goals as Beluga rode off the field at the end of the first half with a 5-3 advantage.
Casablanca seemed to have found themselves as they matched Beluga goal for goal in the fourth. Mandelbaum and Gracida registered single goals for Beluga with Coppola and Kampsen responding for Casablanca. At the end of four chukkers of play, Beluga continued to lead by two goals, 7-5.
Mandelbaum put Beluga on top, 8-5 with the opening goal of the fifth chukker. Grant Ganzi converted a pair of penalty shots for goals, however, and Casablanca was within a goal of the lead, 8-7.
Beluga added two goals in the final chukker on scoring efforts from Rodzianko and Mandelbaum while Casablanca was unable to rally any effective offense as they fell, 10-7.
Mandelbaum set the scoring pace for Beluga with five goals. Gracida scored three times and Rodzianko was credited with two goals in the win. Coppola scored three times for Casablanca. Ganzi and Kampsen each added two goals in a losing effort.