Game report by Wiley Uretz
photos by David Lominska, polographics.com

We had another extremely exciting day here at the Santa Barbara Polo and Racquet Club hosting the 2011 Lucchese America Cup Final and Consolation. As we have been doing all high goal season we had the Finals as the 1 o’clock game and the Consolation as the 3 o’clock game in order to have the field be in the best possible shape for the more important game. This definitely paid off leading to a fast and furious Final game.

Winners: Grant's Farm

The game started with Lucchese scoring first and looking like they were going to take control but then all of the sudden Grants Farm stormed back with three unanswered goals to end the first chukker. Grants Farm carried that momentum straight over into the second chukker scoring two goals however Lucchese determined to not go down too far and answered with a goal of their own to make it a 3 goal game. Then in the third chukker Grants Farm scored first but were quickly answered by Lucchesse. Howver Grants Farm immediately countered with a goal of their own to take a seven to three lead into half time.

In the start of the second half thanks to two open goal penalties Lucchese cut the lead to two goals but Grants Farm was able to answer ending the chukker with a three goal lead. In the fifth chukker it was apparent that both teams knew what was at stake as they both came back on their best horses that they had played in the beginning to try and establish a lead. Although unfortunately for Lucchese this did not lead to anything other than a 1 to 1 defensive stalemate. Then in the last chukker Grants Farm, knowing that no lead is safe when Adolfo Cambiaso is your opponent, put the pressure on and scored 1 quick goal, which was then answered by two Lucchese goals and what looked like it might be a last second comeback. However Grants Farm was determined to not let this lead slip away, winning a key series of plays with an amazing steal by Jeff Hall, and then scoring two more goals and ending the game with a 13 to 9 victory. Jeff Hall was the high scorer for Grants Farm with 8 goals and Jeff Blake was the high scorer for Lucchese with 4 goals. The Best playing pony award was given to Jeff Hall’s Sparkle and Jeff Hall was named MVP.

After the Final we had the 3pm Consolation game which pitted Mansour against Piaget. Piaget won 12-9.

2011 Santa Barbara 20-Goal Season Rosters: