By Alex Webbe
Flower’s Farms (David flowers, Rick Paicius, Ernie Ezcurra and Erik Wright) kept its record unblemished at 3-0 Thursday afternoon at the Empire Polo Club in Indio with a 9-7½ win over Thermal (Hayward Pardue, Dayelle Fargey, Romero Gonzalez and Goyo Mariscal) in the 4-goal Rose Cup play.
Three-goaler Ernie Ezcurra scored the opening goal of the game for Flower’s Farms with Hayward Pardue responding with a goal from the field. Rick Paicius scored the closing goal of the chukker for a 2-1½ advantage (Thermal received ½ goal by handicap).
Goyo Mariscal got Thermal on the scoreboard with a goal in the second for a 2½-2 lead, but Flower’s Farm charged back into action. A pair of goals from Paicius (one from the field and one on a penalty shot) was followed by a single goal from Ezcurra. Thermal responded with a closing goal from Romero Gonzalez. At the end of two chukkers of play, Flower’s Farms held a 5-3½ edge.
The Thermal defense stiffened in the third chukker, shutting out the Flower’s Farms attack for the first time all day. Single goals from Pardue and Dayelle Fargey gave Thermal a narrow 5½-5 lead with two chukkers to play.
Mariscal’s third goal of the match put thermal on top, 6½ -5 when Flower’s Farms woke up. Ezcurra added two more goals from the field as Flower’s Farms regained the lead, 7-6½.
Paicius put Flower’s Farms up 8-6½ with a 40-yard penalty conversion, and Erik Wright’s first score of the day had Thermal trailing 9-6½. A final goal from Gonzalez cut into the Flower’s Farms lead, but that would be where it stopped. Flower’s Farms held on for the 9-7½ victory.
Ezcurra and Paicius each scored four times for flower’s Farms. Wright scored once.
A balanced Thermal attack found Mariscal, Gonzalez and Pardue scoring two goals each. Fargey scored once and the team received ½ goal by handicap.