Fans cheer on their favorite teams for the finals
The finals of the Veuve Clicquot Robert Skene Tournament last Sunday saw the grandstands packed with eager Grants Farm and Patagones fans. The crowd has really been getting into the games this year and are very loyal to their preferred teams. The first chukker of the finals saw Patagones dominate Grants Farm and come out with a 4-0 lead. Carlos Avendano had a great chukker scoring 3 goals. One a spectacular grass burner from 80 yards out, the second was taken down the field to the left of the goal
Carlos Gracida hits the ball out of the air.
where Carlos checked hard to lose his man and then made his shot toward goal, and the last goal saw Carlos tapping the ball through on the nearside. Patagones’ fourth goal of the chukker was put through by Gonzalo Avendano off of Brandon Phillips approach shot. Grants Farm must have had their head in the clouds. Patagones continued
Patagones Players pose with Mrs. Elizabeth Skene
their streak of goals into the 2nd chukker when Gonzalo made another goal to put Patagones ahead 5-0. Grants Farm decided they were going to start playing polo and woke up to score 3 unanswered goals in the 2nd. 1 goal from the penalty line, 1 goal when Cachi Garcia-Velez stole the ball from Carlos Avendano and passed it to Sugar Erskine, and a goal from the field by Jeff Hall. Grants Farm held onto their streak into the third chukker and by half time the score was tied 5-5. In the 4th chukker Grants Farm and Patagones Each made a goal, Jeff Hall sunk a safety off a penalty 4 and Carlos Avendano faced a play by Grants Farm, came out with the ball and Carlos Gracida finished the play. Both teams came out into the 5th chukker ready to play hard. Patagones came up with the first goal, put in by Carlos Avendano. Jeff Hall scored a breakaway goal off of the following throw in to tie things back up quickly. Jeff Hall pounded the
Fans view the game from the Veuve Clicquot VIP Tent
ball from mid field and nearly scored but Brandon Phillips knocked it out of danger. Grants Farm took the lead again with a penalty 2 by Jeff Hall. Gonzalo Avendano took the ball off the throw in to tie the score going into the 6th 8-8. Jeff Hall made an incredible neck shot at speed to put Grants Farm up first in the 6th. Brandon Phillips tied the score from the penalty line, sinking a 2. The teams battled for several minutes as the clock ticked down. Finally, right before the 30 second horn, Carlos Gracida taped the ball toward goal and drew a foul. He made the penalty 2 to give Patagones the win 10-9. Carlos Gracida’s mare Ducati was the Best Playing Pony
For the consolation final it was Lucchese vs Audi. Audi was awarded a goal on handicap and got the first goal on the field from Kris Kampsen’s penalty 4. Andres Weisz made an agressive play to steal the ball from Audi’s Juan Bollini, Andres’ horse is bumped hard and he is awarded a penalty 3 shot which is taken by Julio Gracida. Julio’s ball went through the goal posts for Lucchese’s first goal. Mike Azzaro cleared the ball from the Audi goal mouth and nursed the ball down
9 goaler Miker Azzaro had a good game Sunday
the field to tie the game 2-2. Kris Kampsen made a goal off of a penalty 5 to put Audi up 3-2 going into the second. The whistle blew often the first two chukkers and Lucchese was lucky that Audi had a hard time capitalizing on the fouls. Luccese sponsor John Muse rode off Juan Bollini early in the second chukker, allowing 9 goaler Mike Azzaro to score. Andres Weisz took advantage of a shot that bounced off of his horse and passed the ball up to Mike Azzaro who scored to make the score 4-3 Lucchese. In the third chukker, Mike Azzaro took the ball from end to end to make the first goal and put Lucchese up by 2. Mike’s second goal of the chukker was a penalty 4 awarded off of a red flag against Luis Escobar. Luis Escobar stole the ball from Andres Weisz to score Audi’s first goal in the 3rd and make the score 6-4. Andres left the ball behind a few plays later and Kampsen was the first to it for a breakaway goal. Mike Azzaro stole the ball from Luis Escobar to put Lucchese up by 2 again. All goals in the fourth and fifth chukkers were made on the penalty line as both teams showed solid defensive plays. Mike scored 2 penalty 3s in the 4th chukker and Luis Escobar missed one but made a penalty 2 to put the score at 9-6 Lucchese going into the 5th. Luis Escobar and Kris Kampsen each make a penalty 2 in the 5th and Mike Azzaro misses one. The score was 9-8 going into the 6th chukker and no one was able to put the ball through the posts.