While the rest of the country kept a wary eye on the weather forecast, those of us lucky enough to be at Santa Barbara Polo Club today enjoyed perfect conditions for some rock and roll 20 goal polo. The Bombardier Pacific Coast Open quarterfinals are in the books, and ERG and Piaget will advance to the semifinals.
The first game between Scott Wood’s ERG Polo team and Andy Busch’s Grants Farm had enough swings in momentum to make spectators dizzy. Grants Farm came out strong, and ended the first chukker with a 3-1 lead that was capped off by a spectacular near side neck shot from Nic Roldan that was about three feet in the air when he batted it through the goal at a dead run. Both teams held steady in the 2nd chukker, but ERG turned the tables in the 3rd chukker when Sebastion Merlos, who was rock solid for ERG all through the game, dominated the lineups and scored 5 goals to 2 for Grants Farm, making the score at halftime 9 to 7 in favor ERG.
The 4th chukker was choppy for both teams, but although ERG spent most of the chukker attacking the Grants Farm goal, when Grants Farm did go on offense they made it count to outscore ERG 3-1 and go ahead by a goal at the end of the chukker. The back and forth continued in the 5th, and the score ended 12 all after the 5th chukker to set up a dynamite 6th chukker.
Nic Roldan put Grants Farm ahead in the 6th on an astounding penalty 5 conversion from midfield, but ERG’s Merlos countered with a penalty 2 conversion that might not have been as dramatic but still tied up the score at 13 all. Then, Grants Farm had their chance at a penalty 3 shot, but it went wide. But fortunately for Grants Farm the opposing team jumped the gun while trying to block the shot and therefore Grants Farm got another chance at the penalty, which Jeff Hall converted to go up 14-13 with a couple minutes left. After an ERG attack on goal missed by inches, Grants Farm sent the ensuing knock in to the boards in an effort to run out the clock, only to have that wily veteran Sebi Merlos read the play perfecty, sneak in for the back shot, send the ball to Paco de Narvaez, who although he was hooked on the goal shot left the ball in perfect position for Miguelito Torres to sink the goal and send the game to OT with the score tied at 14 all.
ERG had the momentum in their favor in OT and they used that momentum to win the lineups and attack the Grants Farm goal, after a minute and change an attempt by Grants Farm to clear an ERG shot on goal went awry and that was all it took to give Sebi Merlos the open shot on goal and an ERG victory, 15-14.
The second game was a completely different ball game, as Piaget dominated the early chukkers and never looked back. Piaget’s Miguel Astrada made it look easy today, covering the field as smooth as silk while setting up Melissa Ganzi for two goals and hitting Jason Crowder on the give and go for several more. Astrada also scored 6 goals himself when there wasn’t an open man to accept the pass. Juan Bollini held steady on defense for Piaget, and the combination was too much for Mansour. Piaget jumped out to a 7-2 lead after the 2nd chukker and extended that to 8-2 after the 3rd. Sometimes things can change drastically after half time but that was not the case today, as Piaget continued to lead by 11-3 after the 4th. Lolo Castagnola scored three unanswered goals in the 6th for Mansour to close the gap, but Piaget was not threatened en route to their 14-7 win.
In the semifinals on Thursday, Lucchese will face ERG in a repeat of last year’s PCO final, and Marc Ganzi’s Audi will play Melissa Ganzi’s Piaget in a family affair.
Thursday Sept 1
1pm Semifinal: Lucchese vs ERG
3pm Semifinal: Audi vs Piaget
Saturday Sept 3
1pm Final Western Badge and Trophy: Mansour vs Grants Farm
Played on handicap
Sunday Sept 4
2pm FINAL