(L to R)-Goose Creek team captain Maureen Brennan being ridden off by White Birch Argentine 9-goaler Mariano Aguerre in East Coast Open play at the Greenwich Polo Club Tuesday afternoon. White Birch went on to win, 14-9.
An early goal from Mariano Aguerre gave the 1-0 lead to White Birch (Santino Magrini, Hilario Ulloa, Mariano Aguerre and Peter Brant) over Goose Creek (Maureen Brennan, Marcos Garcia del Rio, Tomas Garcia del Rio and Mariano Gonzalez) in the opening match of the second round of play in the 2016 East Coast Open at the Greenwich Polo Club Tuesday afternoon. Tomas Garcia Del Rio tied the game at 2-2 by converting a 40-yard penalty shot for Goose Creek, 1-1. Tomas Garcia Del Rio and Aguerre exchanged goals in the final minutes of the chukker for a 2-2 tie.
Aguerre lit the field up in the second period, scoring consecutive goals from the field for a 4-2 advantage. Tomas Garcia Del Rio scored his third goal of the day and cut the White Birch lead back to a single goal, 4-3. Hilario Ulloa and Tomas Garcia Del Rio traded 30-yard penalty goals to put White Birch on top, 5-4. Marcos Garcia Del Rio received his second yellow card of the match for appealing and was sent off the field with just two seconds on the clock.
Goose Creek went to the field in the third with only three players while Marcos Garcia Del Rio sat out the balance of his two-minute suspension. In a choppy third period all three goals came on penalty shots with Ulloa converting two from the 30-yard line that boosted the White Birch lead to three goals, 7-4. Tomas Garcia Del Rio scored the final goal of the chukker on a short penalty shot to trail, 7-5 at the end of the first half.
White Birch led by two goals, 7-5, at the end of the first half. (Photo courtesy of Pololine)
The White Birch attack continued to press the Goose Creek defenders as the second half got underway, and Goose Creek fouls were costly. Ulloa converted consecutive penalty shots from the 30 and 40-yard lines as the White Birch lead grew to four goals, 9-5. A well-executed nearside shot by Ulloa gave him his third goal of the chukker. The Goose Creek offense was silenced and White Birch rode off the field with a commanding 10-5 lead.
Following a scoreless fourth for Goose Creek, Tomas Garcia Del Rio converted a 40-yard penalty shot to make it 10-6 as Goose Creek fought to get back into the game and White Birch worked to protect their sizeable lead. With time winding down in the fifth period, White Birch team captain Peter Brant drove the ball through the Goose Creek goalposts from nearly 70-yards that gave his team a five goals lead, 11-6, with one chukker remaining in regulation play.
A White Birch foul sent Tomas Garcia Del Rio to the penalty line in the opening minutes of the sixth period where he converted the shot at goal from the 40-yard line, 11-8, and teammate Mariano Gonzalez broke through the White Birch defenders for a goal that had Goose Creek within three goals of the lead, 11-8, when the rally stalled. Ulloa scored on two well-controlled runs down the field that stretched the White Birch lead back to five goals, 13-8. Brant converted a 30-yard penalty shot with Gonzalez scoring the final goal of the game in a 14-9 White Birch victory.
Ulloa led all scoring with eight goals (five on penalty conversions). Aguerre added four goals and Brant scored twice for the win. Tomas Garcia Del Rio set the pace for Goose Creek with seven goals (five on penalty shots). Gonzalez was credited with two goals in the loss.
The win boosts the White Birch record to 2-0 and assures them a berth in the tournament semifinals while Goose Creek falls to 1-1.
The defending East Coast Championship Audi team (1-0) will face Tupungato (Luis Rinaldini, Santi Torres, Naco Taverna and Gaston Lisioli) at the Greenwich Polo Club on Wednesday in a 10am game. Tupungato will be looking for their first win (0-1) while Audi will fight to remain unbeaten. A second East Coast Open match between Postage Stamp Farm (Annabelle Gundlach, Salvador Ulloa, Brandon Phillips and Joao Paulo Ganon) and Airstream (Agustin Bottaro, Guille Aguero, Matias Magrini and Kris Kampsen) will follow at 5pm and will be played at the Mashomack Polo Club on Millbrook, NY.
All East Coast Open games will be livestreamed on ChukkerTV.