Lechuza Caracas 6-goaler Tomas Goti shot out of the starting gate Friday afternoon, scoring three straight goals and giving his team an early 3-0 advantage over a disorganized Goose Creek lineup.
Things got no better in the second chukker for Goose Creek, with Agustin Nero scoring twice from the field and Goti adding another goal on a penalty conversion. Goose Creek team captain Maureen Brennan got her team on the scoreboard with a single goal. After two periods of play, Goose Creek trailed Lechuza Caracas 6-1.
Goose Creek finally got into the rhythm of the game in the third chukker. Kampsen converted two 30-yard penalty shots for goals and teammate Tommy Biddle drilled the ball 150 yards down the field on a Penalty 5. Lechuza Caracas gave up no ground, picking up a pair of goals from Goti and a single goal from Lechuza Caracas team captain, Victor Vargas. At the end of the first half Lechuza Caracas held on to a five goal, 9-4 lead.
“We were all over the place in the first half,” said Kampsen. “We couldn’t hit the ball, we were missing penalty shots, nothing was going right for us,” he said. “We got together at halftime and agreed that all was not lost. We decided that we could and would fight our way back into the game.”
Goose Creek scored two goals on great individual efforts from Kampsen and Luis Escobar in the fourth chukker. Nero responded with a goal for Lechuza Caracas, and the lead was cut to four goals, 10-6.
Two more penalty goals were scored by Biddle in the fifth chukker, with Adam Snow scoring a goal from the field for Lechuza Caracas. The lead was cut to three goals with one chukker left in regulation time.
Both teams fought and scraped for control of the ball in the sixth, with Goose Creek coming out on top. Kampsen scored on a pass from Biddle, and Biddle cut the lead to a single goal, 11-10 on a penalty shot for a goal. Kampsen scored his second goal of the chukker to tie it up, 11-11, while the team’s defense shut out Lechuza Caracas. The horn sounded with the teams deadlocked at 11-11, calling for a sudden-death overtime period.
After a brief intermission, both teams returned to the field. Goose Creek took control of the ball and a streaking Kampsen scored the winning goal, 12-11.
Kampsen led Goose Creek with six goals. Biddle scored four times and teammates Brennan and Escobar added single goals in the win. Goti accounted for six goals for Lechuza Caracas. Nero added three goals and Snow and Vargas each scored a goal in the loss.
VILLA DEL LAGO 12, CRAB ORCHARD 11
Later in the day, Villa Del Lago 8-goaler Polito Pieres was dealt the hot hand in the first chukker, scoring the first goal from the opening throw-in and adding two more goals from the field. Crab Orchard answered with a pair of goals from Mariano Aguerre (one on a penalty shot) and a goal from the field from Felipe Viana and the first chukker ended in a 3-3 tie.
Two second chukker goals from Aguerre were countered by single goals from Pieres (penalty conversion) and Magoo Laprida. After two periods it was all even at 5-5.
Pieres scored two more goals in the third (one on a penalty shot), and Laprida added a penalty conversion. Crab Orchard was held to a single penalty goal from Aguerre and Villa Del Lago rode off the field at the end of the first half with an 8-6 lead.
Both teams regrouped for second half play, and defenses tightened. Pieres and Aguerre exchanged single goals, with Villa Del Lago maintaining a two goal lead at 9-7.
Lorenzo Merlotti opened the fifth chukker with a goal from the field. Pieres added two more and Villa Del Lago held a five goal advantage, 12-7. Aguerre kept Crab Orchard from getting blanked with his seventh goal of the day, but Vila Del Lago continued to lead, 12-8.
Crab orchard lite them up in the sixth with gals from Magrini and Viana draw within two goals of the lead, but time was running out. Aguerre scored the final goal of the match to cut the lead to a single goal, 12-11 when time ran out in the Villa Del Lago win.
Polito Pieres scored nine goals for Villa Del Lago, two on penalty shots. Laprida added two goals, with one on a penalty shot and Lorenzo Merlotti added a goal for the win. Aguerre accounted for eight goals for Crab Orchard, three on penalty conversions. Viana scored twice and Magrini added a goal in a losing effort.
ERG 8, FARAWAY POLO 7
Both ERG and Faraway Polo showed opening game jitters as they took the field in the final 20-goal match of the day.
After battling to a 1-1 first chukker tie, Scott Wood’s ERG entry in the Joe Barry Memorial Cup held off a last chukker rally by Faraway Polo to score an 8-7 win.
Faraway’s Santiago Chavanne scored the first goal of the game from the field and Paco de Narvaez answered with a 60-yard penalty conversion for ERG for the early 1-1 tie, but the fireworks exploded in the second chukker.
Four consecutive ERG goals in the second period of Friday afternoons match saw Faraway Polo fall behind by four goals, 5-1. The ERG defense held Faraway Polo scoreless while picking up single goals from de Narvaez (penalty conversion) and Jeff Blake and a pair of goals from Hector Galindo (one from the field and one on a penalty shot).
Faraway Polo bounced back in the third chukker as Pelon Escapite scored his first goal of the match and Chavanne added two more (one on a penalty shot). Blake responded with a single goal and ERG ended the first half with a 6-4 lead.
Scoring was hard to come by in the fourth, with de Narvaez registering the only goal of the chukker for ERG. With two periods left to play ERG led7-4.
The two teams exchanged goals in the fifth with Juan Monteverde getting Faraway Polo on the scoreboard first and Blake countering with the final goal of the chukker. ERG continued to lead, 8-5.
Faraway Polo pressed its attack in the sixth chukker, picking up a pair of goals on penalty conversions from Chavanne. Trailing by a single goal Faraway Polo was on the attack when time expired and ERG registered their first win of the season, 8-7.
Faraway Polo’s Chavanne scored a game high five goals, four on penalty conversions. Teammates Escapite and Monteverde added single goals in the loss. Blake and de Narvaez scored three goals apiece for ERG. Galindo added two goals in the win.
Competition in the 2013 Joe Barry Memorial Cup will continue at the International Polo Club on Saturday with a 3pm contest between Valiente and Lucchese.