Casablanca’s Jeff Hall scored seven times in leading his team to an 11-9 win. (Photo by Alex Pacheco)
Casablanca (Grant Ganzi, Leo Mandelbaum, Jeff Hall and Julio Gracida) charged out to a 5-2 halftime lead over Palm Beach Polo (Melissa Ganzi, Guille Aguero, Juan Bollini and Glenn Straub) Thursday afternoon in the opening round of play in the 2014 Palm Restaurant Invitational tournament at the Grand Champions Polo Club but had to stem a late game rally to capture the game in an 11-9 win.
Juan Bollini opened the scoring for Palm Bach Polo on a penalty shot in the first chukker. Teammate Melissa Ganzi scored on a well-placed shot from the field for the 2-0 lead. Grant Ganzi put Casablanca on the scoreboard with a goal from the field. The chukker ended with Palm Beach Polo on top, 2-1.
Casablanca revved up their defense in the second and third chukkers as they blanked the Palm Beach Polo attack while adding four goals of their own.
Second period play had Jeff Hall scoring his first goal of the day, 2-2. Julio Gracida gave Casablanca the 3-2 edge with the final goal of the chukker.
The Palm Beach Polo offense was frustrated again in the third as the Casablanca defense held firm. Goals from Melissa Ganzi and Jeff Hall went unanswered as Casablanca left the field at the end of the chukker in a narrow 3-2 lead.
Third chukker goals from Grant Ganzi and Jeff Hall stretched the Casablanca lead to three goals. Palm Beach Polo was shutout for the second consecutive period and trailed 5-2 at the end of the first half.
Leo Mandelbaum and Jeff Hall scored single goals in the fourth as he expanded the lead to five goals in the fourth chukker. Melissa Ganzi scored the final goal of the chukker on a well-executed shot from the field from over 50-yards out. The chukker ended with Palm Beach Polo in front, 7-3.
Pam Beach Polo came alive in the fifth, scoring four times while holding Casablanca to a pair of goals from Jeff Hall. The pace continued to quicken with Juan Bollini and Melissa Ganzi scoring the opening goals of the fifth period, cutting the Casablanca lead to a manageable two goals, 7-5. Glenn Straub’s first goal of the day had Palm Beach Polo within a goal of the lead, 7-6. Jeff Hall stepped up for Casablanca, scoring consecutive goals from the field for a three goal lead, 9-6. Bollini scored the final goal of the chukker as time expired. Casablanca continued to lead, but Palm Beach Polo was fighting back and trailed by two goals with one chukker left in the game.
A neck shot from Glenn Straub cut the Casablanca lead to a single goal again, 9-8. Hall took control of the game scoring as he rallied Casablanca by scoring consecutive goals, 11-8. Glenn Straub scored the final goal in the game for an exciting 11-9 finish.
Play continues in the 2014 Palm Restaurant Invitational on Friday at 3PM with Palm Beach Equine Group (Gene Goldstein, Jeff Blake, Kris Kampsen and Scott Swerdlin) facing Team USPA (Patrick Uretz, Hared Sheldon, Felipe Viana and Jesse Bray). The final of the tournament is slated to be played at 1PM on Sunday with the subsidiary match set for 10AM. The final of the 2014 Pedro Morrison Memorial Cup are set for 3PM on Sunday. There is no charge for admission and the public is graciously invited to attend the matches.