(L to R)-La Indiana’s Ruki Baillieu and Audi/Millarville’s Julian Mannix battle for a final berth in the 2016 Bobby Barry Cup at the International Polo Club. (Photo by Alex Pacheco)
The match took place under cloudy skies, but there was no rain to get in the way of Audi’s (Marc Ganzi, Julian Mannix, Nic Roldan and Fred Mannix) 13-9 win over La Indiana (Michael Bickford, Joao Ganon, Ruki Baillieu and Tommy Collingwood) Monday morning in the semifinal of the Bobby Barry Cup, a subsidiary of the Joe Barry Memorial Cup at the International Polo Club.
Nic Roldan opened the scoring with a 60-yard penalty conversion followed by a goal from the field from Julian Mannix for a 2-0 lead. Tommy Collingwood drilled the ball through the Audi/Millarville uprights to cut the lead to a single goal, 2-1. Fred Mannix’s first goal of the day pushed the Audi/Millarville lead back to two goals, 3-1. Joao Ganon scored the final goal of the chukker, sending Audi/Millarville off the field with a 3-2 advantage.
The two teams traded goals in the second period with Ganon and Marc Ganzi each scoring on a 30-ayrd penalty shot for their respective teams, 4-3. Fred Mannix and Ruki Baillieu closed out the scoring with single goals from the field. Audi/Millarville continued to lead by a single goal, 5-4.
Baillieu tied the game at 5-5 with a goal from the field in third period action. Roldan got hot and scored back-to-back goals for Audi/Millarville, 7-5. Ganon converted a 40-yard penalty shot, cutting the Audi/Millarville lead back to a single goal, 7-6, to end the first half.
A regrouped Audi/Millarville team took the field in the fourth chukker and made it clear who was in charge. Ganzi opened the scoring with a 30-yard penalty shot for a goal, 8-6, followed by goals from the field from Julian Mannix and Roldan. La Indiana was unable to break through a disciplined Audi/Millarville attack and was held scoreless. After four chukkers of lay, Audi/Millarville found themselves in control of a 10-6 game.
Michael Bickford scored on a well-executed shot from the field in fifth chukker play, 10-7, but Audi/Millarville fired right back. Goals from Ganzi and Fred Mannix extended the lead to five goals, 12-7.
Ganon led a La Indiana rally in the final chukker of play, scoring on a penalty shot and a goal from the field that brought his team to within three goals of the lead, 12-9, but that was where it stalled. Buoyed by a solid defense and a final goal from Julian Mannix, who raced nearly 300-yards down the field to score, Audi/Millarville celebrated the 13-9 win and a spot against Tonkawa (Jeff Hildebrand, Gonzalo Deltour, Sebastian Merlos and Mason Wroe) in the final of the Bobby Barry Cup on Tuesday, February 9th at the International Polo Club.
A balanced Audi/Millarville attack had Nic Roldan leading the team with four goals. Ganzi, Fred Mannix and Julian Mannix scored three goals apiece for the win. Ganon’s five goals (three on penalty conversions) led the field in scoring with Baillieu adding two goals and Bickford and Collingwood scoring a goals apiece in the loss.