Robert Skene Trophy
Santa Barbara Polo Club
by Wiley Uretz, Photos by David Lominska
This past Sunday we kicked off the 20 goal season here at Santa Barbara Polo and Racquet club with two exciting tournament games in the Beluga Robert Skene Trophy. These games were coming on the heels of a very festive Saturday in which the SBPRC and many other sponsors and organizations hosted HRH the Duke of Cambridge in the Foundation Challenge Polo Match. It was great to see all of the excitement and attention which this prestigious event brought to the club. The 1pm game featured Audi: Marc Ganzi 1 goal, Lucas Lalor 4 goals, Sugar Erskine 7 goals and Polito Pieres 8 goals against Mansour: Tony Uretz (replacing Ben Solemani) A rated, Jared 1 goal, Sapo Caset 10 goals and Miguel Astrada 9 goals. The first half of this game started out with the teams trading goals and ended with Audi scoring 2 unanswered goals to take a 5 to 3 lead. In the second half the Mansour team kept making comebacks only to be answered by Audi’s relentless attack. Although still being the beginning of the season it was apparent that both teams were holding their horses back a little bit in order to prevent injury until they are all completely fit. Nevertheless there was some very exciting and some spectacular goals from both teams. The final score was Audi 13 Mansour 9 the high scorer for Mansour was Miguel Astrada with 5 and Marc Ganzi for Audi with 4.
In the three o’clock game we had Grants Farm: Matt Coppola 1 goal, Nic Roldan 8 goals, Jeff Hall 8 goals and Andy Busch 3 goals versus Piaget: Melissa Ganzi A rated, Jason Crowder 6 goals, Paco De Narvaez 8 goals (replacing Lolo Castagnola) and Juan Bollini 5 goals. Although this was not a final you would not be able to tell from watching the game. In the first two chukkers the game was neck and neck with Piaget being able to hang on to a 1 goal lead at the end of both chukkers thanks to their goal on handicap. However in the third chukker Grants Farm broke that trend scoring two unanswered penalties to take a 6 to 5 lead into the half. The second half started off with Grants Farm increasing their lead to two goals thanks to goals by Nic Roldan and Jeff Hall. However Piaget led by Jason Crowder was determined to not go down with out a fight. Scoring 8 goals in the second half Jason lead his team all the way back and in the last chukker he set up Juan Bollini to give them a one goal lead. However at this point there was still a little under 1 minute left and Jeff Hall had the ball for Grants Farm but Juan Bollini on a heady play stole it and went to hit it out but it bounced over his mallet. This gave Grants Farm one last chance and despite a great effort by the whole team the ball went over the boards to end the Game Piaget 14 Grants Farm 13. The high scorers were Jason Crowder with 10 for Piaget and Jeff Hall with 7 for Grants Farm. The finals of the Beluga Robert Skene Trophy will be held next Friday 7/15/11 and it will be Audi versus Piaget.
2011 20 goal Roster
Audi
Marc Ganzi 1
Sugar Erskine 7
Gonzalito Pieres 10
Carlitos Gracida 2
20
ERG
Scott Wood A
Paco de Narvaez 8
Sebastian Merlos 9
Miguelito Torres 3
20
Grants Farm
TBA 1
Nic Roldan 8
Jeff Hall 8
Andy Busch 3
20
Lucchese
John Muse A
Juan Curbelo 4
Adolfo Cambiaso 10
Jeff Blake 6
20
Mansour
Ben SoleimaniA
Sapo Caset 10
Miguel Astrada 9
Jared Sheldon 1
20
Piaget
Melissa Ganzi A
Juan Bollini 5
Lolo Castagnola 8
Jason Crowder 6
19