The Bombardier Pacific Coast Open kicked off today on a beautiful August day at SBPRC. Three of the six teams had new rosters for this tournament, and the results of the games were quite a bit different than the last tournament.
Piaget and defending PCO champion Lucchese faced off in the first game. Piaget had a new lineup, as Miguel Astrada joined the roster in place of Lolo Castagnola (who is now playing for Mansour), bringing Piaget’s handicap from 19 to 20. Piaget fared well with the changed roster, as they matched Lucchese goal for goal, including a great shot by Melissa Ganzi to tie it up in the 4th chukker. But two quick goals from Adolfo Cambiaso for Lucchese in the 6th chukker put the game out of reach, although Piaget would battle back within one for a final score of 11-10.
ERG and Mansour met in the next game, Mansour also had a changed roster with Lolo Castagnola and Juan Gonzalez joining Ben Soleimani and Sapo Caset. Gonzalez did a great job holding out ERG players and making space for a speedy Sapo Caset, and after a very intense game Mansour was victorious 14-13.
In the last game of the day, Grants Farm, the recently crowned champions of the Lucchese America Cup, took on Audi. Audi was without an injured Sugar Erskine, but Carlos Gracida Sr played just fine as his replacement. Grants Farm looked very strong in first half and built a big lead, only to have Audi battle back within one goal going into halftime. Audi stayed within striking distance throughout the second half and then outscored Grants Farm 4-1 in the last chukker, winning 17-14. Gonzalito Pieres scored an impressive 13 goals in the game.
Pacific Coast 2nd round matchups as as follows:
Sunday August 21
10am Lucchese vs ERG
1pm Grants Farm vs Piaget
3pm Mansour vs Audi
2011 Santa Barbara 20 Goal Roster
Audi
Marc Ganzi 1
Sugar Erskine 7
Gonzalito Pieres 10
Carlitos Gracida 2
20
ERG
Scott Wood A
Miguelito Torres 3
Sebastian Merlos 9
Paco de Narvaez 8
20
Grants Farm
Tba 1
Nic Roldan 8
Jeff Hall 8
Andy Busch 3
20
Lucchese
John Muse A
Julio Gracida 4
Adolfo Cambiaso 10
Jeff Blake 6
20
Mansour
Ben Soleimani A
Jared Sheldon 1
Sapo Caset 10
Miguel Astrada 9
20
Piaget
Melissa Ganzi A
Juan Bollini 5
Lolo Castagnola 8
Jason Crowder 6
19