Francisco Escobar scored for Santa Clara.
(Photo by Alex Pacheco)
By Whitney Webbe
Elegante Polo (Robert Kiger, Tom Blake, Armando Huerta and Federico Escobar) scored a win and a tie in Thursday afternoon’s action in the Choice of Champions 8-goal round-robin at Wellington’s Santa Clara Polo Club.
In the first round of play Elegante Polo scored a 5-3 win over Santa Clara (Nico Escobar, Omar Sosa, Ruben Gracida and Francisco Escobar) with Armando Huerta leading the attack with four goals.
Santa Clara received two goals by handicap, but it was Elegante Polo’s Tom Blake who scored first goal from the field. Santa Clara held a 2-1 advantage early in the game. Armando Huerta responded with consecutive goals to give Elegante Polo a 3-2 lead after the first seven minutes of play.
Huerta scored two more goals (one on a penalty shot) in the second to put Elegante Polo ahead, 5-2.
Omar Sosa scored the only goal of the final chukker for Santa Clara as Elegante Polo rode off the field with a 5-3 victory.
ELEGANTE POLO 3, AGUA CLARA 3
Elegante Polo held the field for the next three chukkers as they faced Agua Clara (Kaiser Maakar, Tito Robledo, Wes Finlayson and Luis Escobar) in the second round of play.
Elegante Polo received one goal by handicap but it was Agua Clara’s Wes Finlayson who scored the first goal from the field for a 1-1 tie. Tito Robledo put Agua Clara on top, 2-1, with his first goal of the day. Federico Escobar answered with a tying goal to make it 2-2. Luis Escobar closed out the chukker with a go-ahead goal for Agua Clara, 3-2.
Huerta tied it for a 3-3 tie in the only goal of the final chukker.
SANTA CLARA 5, AGUA CLARA 3
Santa Clara received three goals by handicap for the final round of play against Agua Clara, but it was Finlayson who scored the first goal from the field, 3-1. Nico Escobar extended the Santa Clara lead to three goals with a penalty conversion, ending the first period on top of a 4-1 score.
Goals were hard to come by in the second period, with Luis Escobar scoring the only goal of the chukker. Santa Clara continued to lead, 4-2.
Agua Clara’s Finlayson and Santa Clara’s Francisco Escobar exchanged goals in the final chukker of play, with Santa Clara celebrating the 5-3 win.
Tournament play will continue on Friday, October 25th with the Choice of Champions 4-goal round robin.
Tommy Kato’s Merchant Hub team (Tommy Kato, Lucas Escobar, Luis Escobar and TBA) will be joined by Tulun (Javier Guerra, Javier Guerra, Jr., Juan Guilanda and TBA) and Sea Breeze (Ray Fine, Wilfred Fine, Armando Huerta and Max Secunda).