By Alex Webbe
Marc Ganzi showed US Open form Friday afternoon as he led his Piaget team to a hard-fought 13-12 win over a talented Flat Out foursome.
Ganzi scored the first three goals of the game (two from the field and one on a penalty
shot) before Flat Out got any traction under its offense.
A pair of goals from Kris Kampsen and a penalty conversion from Paul Knapp tied it up at 3-3 as the first chukker ended.
Gene Goldstein and Jota Chavanne tallied single goals for Flat Out in the second period, but scores from Ganzi and Nic Roldan kept it all even at 5-5 after the chukker.
The score went back and forth again in the third period with Kampsen scoring a go-ahead goal for Flat Out before Ganzi responded with his fifth goal of the match. Sergio Sylvestre put Piaget back on top, 7-6 with his first goal of the match, but Chavanne managed to knot it up at 7-7 to end the first half of play.
Ganzi converted a goal to open the scoring in the fourth, putting Piaget up, 8-7, but
Flat Out was just getting warmed up. Kampsen broke free from the Piaget defense and scored a pair of goals, and after four chukkers of action, Flat Out boasted a narrow 9-8 advantage.
Roldan converted a penalty goal for a 9-9 score, but Knapp’s second goal f the game put Flat Out back on top, 10-9. Sylvestre responded with another Piaget goal to end the chukker, leaving the score at 10-10 going into the final chukker of play.
The sixth chukker was no different from the earlier part of the game as the teams took
turns scoring. Ganzi scored the first goal of the chukker, 11-10, with Knapp matching him with a penalty conversion, 11-11. Roldan scored from the field for Piaget, 12-11, but Knapp responded with his fourth goal of the contest,
12-12. Fittingly, it was Ganzi’s eighth goal of the game that delivered the knockout punch to a determined Flat Out team, moving Piaget into Sunday’s finals.
Ganzi led all scoring on the day with eight goals. Roldan scored three times and Sylvestre scored twice in the victory.
Kampsen was credited with five Flat Out goals. Knapp scored four times and Chavanne added two goals. Gene Goldstein added a goal in the loss.
Elangeni Ranch 8, Audi 6
In earlier competition it was a balanced Elangeni Ranch attack that carried the day for them as they scored a late 8-6 win over Audi in the USPA Fall Plate competition.
Misha Rodzianko replaced the injured team captain, Melissa Ganzi (shoulder), on the
Audi team and made a good showing of himself in the match, but Audi struggled
to find any consistency in its offensive efforts.
Jason Crowder scored four times for the Audi team with single goals coming from Juan Bollini and Joey Casey, but Elegani Ranch provided better teamwork in the long
run.
Elegani Ranch held a narrow 3-2 halftime lead before Crowder tied it up at 3-3 in the
fourth. Audi managed a pair of goals in the fifth, but the Elegani Ranch attack delivered two goals from Diego Cossio and a single goal from J. J. Celis to take a 6-5 lead going into the final chukker of play.
Crowder tied it up at 6-6 with his fourth goal of the game in the opening minutes of the final chukker, but Elangeni Ranch rebounded with Luis Escobar scoring the
go-ahead goal with time running out. A backhander by Escobar to a streaking Celis gave Elegani Ranch a final goal as time expired.
Celis led the Elegani attack with three goals. Escobar and Cossio scored two goals apiece and team captain Brian Street added a goal for the win.
Crowder set the pace for Audi with four goals. Bollini and Casey added single goals in a losing effort.
Competition in the 2011 USPA Fall Plate will continue on Sunday, October 9th at
9:30 am and 11 am with the finals and consolation final at the Grand Champions
tournament fields in Wellington.