L to R-Stone Pony patron Dennis Fitzpatrick and John Gobin. Fitzpatrick scored four goals in Saturday’s contest at the Santa Clara Polo Club.
Santa Clara (Martin Watson, Landen Daniels, Luis Escobar and Pierre Verville) opened the Saturday competition in the Santa Clara Club League by defeating a game but out-gunned Stone Pony foursome (John Gobin, Hillary Blythe, Dennis Fitzpatrick and Jocelyne Groulx), 7-5.
Landon Daniels scored the opening goal of the first chukker with the Santa Clara defense holding Stone Pony in check. Another goal from Pierre Verville extended the Santa Clara lead to two goals, 2-0, to close out the period.
Luis Escobar and Whitney Ross at Santa Clara Polo Club.
Pierre Verville opened the second period with a goal to extend the Santa Clara lead to three goals, 3-0. Dennis Fitzpatrick finally got Stone Pony on the scoreboard with a goal from the field, 3-1 but Daniels scored the final goal of the chukker that left Stone Pony trailing, 4-1 at the end of the first half of the four-chukker contest.
Luis Escobar made it 5-1 with his first goal of the day but Stone Pony fired back. A 30-yard penalty conversion from Fitzpatrick and a goal from the field from Jocelyne Groulx cut the Santa Clara lead back to two goals, 5-3, with one period left in regulation play.
Fitzpatrick’s third goal of the game brought Stone Pony to within a goal of the lead, 5-4, but that would be as close as they would get. Verville and Daniels scored consecutive goals for a 7-4 advantage. Fitzpatrick scored the final goal of the match, but it was Santa Clara with the 7-5 win.
Daniels and Verville scored three goals apiece for Santa Clara. Teammate Escobar added a goal for the victory. Fitzpatrick’s four goals led the field with Groulx scoring once in the loss.
Roger Drill 7, Obliphica 3
Roger Drill (Luis Escobar, Juan Salinas, Laura Guarisco and Roger Gerard) and Obliphica (Oliver Firestone, Nico Escobar, Matias Nigoul and Kaisser Maakar) played one another evenly through the first half of the 11:30 match before Roger Drill put four unanswered goals on the scoreboard in the third and fourth periods to record a 7-3 win.
Roger Gerard got the offense rolling with the first goal of the day, 1-0. Obliphica responded with a goal from Nico Escobar to tie it at 1-1.
Second chukker play saw the two teams trade goals, with Juan Salinas scoring twice for Roger Drill while Obliphica picked up a pair of goals from Nico Escobar. At the end of the first half it was all even at 3-3.
Both defenses played tough in the third chukker and scoring was at a premium. Luis Escobar gave Roger Drill the lead with the only goal of the chukker. After three periods of play, Roger Drill found themselves defending a fragile 4-3 lead.
Roger Drill recorded their second consecutive period of shutout defense while their offense was piling on the points. A single goal from Salinas and two goals from Gerard ended the game with Roger Drill on the winning end of a 7-3 score.
Salinas and Gerard each scored three times for the Roger Drill attack. Luis Escobar added a goal for the win. Nico Escobar scored all three goals for Obliphica in a losing effort.
Polo action returns to the Santa Clara Polo Club on Sunday with a 10am La Martina Cup 10-goal game between Beverly Polo (Hilario Figueras, Bill Ballhaus, Ramiro Cordero and Brad Mallet) and Crossfit El Cid (Cecelia Cochran, Jason Wates, Adrian Wade and Garrick Steele).
The Santa Clara Polo Club is located at 12293 50th Street South, Wellington, FL, 33467. The matches are free of charge and the public is invited to attend.