By Alex Webbe 

Hublot’s Tara Lordi scored six goals, but none as important as the winning goal in a second overtime shootout to defeat a tough AMG-Mercedes team in the finals of the 2011 Miami Beach Women’s Polo Cup on Thursday afternoon for the opening day of the AMG Miami Beach Polo World Cup and the sands of South Beach.
 
Hublot (Tara Lordi, Melissa Hornung and Angela York) took an early 3-1 lead, but AMG-Mercedes (Anis Jamaludin, Costanza Marchiorello and Natascha Baecher) battled back to score three goals, tying at 4-4:  Hublot’s Tara Lordi scoring the tying goal to force the first overtime period.
 
After five minutes without a score, the teams settled on a shootout, with every member of each team getting a penalty shot opportunity.
 
Anis Jamaludin put the first shot wide for AMG-Mercedes while Hublot’s Melissa Hornung connected for a goal.  Costanza Marchiorello’s second shot also went wide for a second AMG-Mercedes miss.  In a winner-take-all attempt, Hublot’s Tara Lordi connected for the tie-breaking goal and a well-deserved Hublot Championship 5-4 win.  Lordi was named MVP for her efforts.
 
In Bracket I play, The Raleigh Hotel (Stephanie Kraml-Suttle, Libby Scripps and Valerie Biehl) scored a tournament opening win over Gilt City (Abi Beaux, Aimee Waters and Kristina Gustafson), 3-0 before shootings down Jet Blue (Paula Chermont, Debra Atwell and Katherine Campos) in the finals with a 2-0 score. The Raleigh’s Libby Scripps taking MVP honors.

Merchant Hub (Whitney Ross, Cristina Hosmer and Jeanne Blackwell) scored a 6-3 win over Gilt City in the Bracket I consolation match.

Panama Jack (Lynn O’Con nor, Debbie Nash, Jennifer Williams and Amy Deupi) bounced back from a 5-2 opening loss to AMG to record an 8-0 win over Grey Goose (Bobette Martin, Scarlet Davenport and Uneku Atawodi) in the Bracket II consolation round of play. 
 
Beach Polo action will continue on Friday afternoon at noon, with the kick-off of the 2011 Miami Beach Polo World Cup men’s tournament.