(L to R)-Tonkawa’s Facundo Obregon shadows Goose Creek’s Tomas Garcia del Rio in Iglehart Cup action Friday at the International Polo Club. Tonkawa rode away with the win, 10-8.
There was little mystery in Friday afternoon’s 20-goal Iglehart Cup game at the International Polo Club as Tonkawa (Jeff Hildebrand, Costi Caset, Sapo Caset and Facundo Obregon) took a 6-2 halftime lead over Goose Creek (Maureen Brennan, Peke Gonzalez, Tomas Garcia del Rio and Mariano Gonzalez) on their way to a 10-8 win.
Goose Creek’s Mariano Gonzalez scored the first goal of the game on a 30-yard penalty conversion, but that would be their last lead of the day. Tonkawa 10-goaler, Sapo Caset, scored three consecutive goals (two on penalty shots) for an early 3-1 advantage.
Facundo Obregon scored the first two goals of the second period, receiving a pass from Sapo Caset and racing 100-yards down the field to make it 4-1. Moments later Obregon gave Tonkawa a four-goal lead on an amazing neck shot off of the backline, 5-1. With just 2:27 left in the chukker, Peke Gonzalez broke through the Tonkawa defense to get Goose Creek on the scoreboard and cut the lead back to three goals, 5-2
In a defensively-oriented third period, Sapo Caset scored the only goal of the chukker following a 60-yard run. The first half ended with Tonkawa on top of a 6-2 score.
Sapo Caset’s fifth goal of the day stretched the Tonkawa lead to five goals, 7-2, before Goose Creek finally responded. Mariano Gonzalez followed up on a 30-yard penalty conversion with a goal from the field. The fourth period ended with Tonkawa holding on to a comfortable three-goal lead, 7-4.
Tomas Garcia del Rio cut the Tonkawa lead down two goals with his first scoring effort of the day in the opening 30-seconds of the fifth chukker, 7-5, but Tonkawa stormed back. Sapo Caset scored on a well-executed neck shot from over 80-yards out followed by a goal from cousin, Costi Caset, for a 9-5 lead with one chukker remaining in regulation play.
Goose Creek pressed the attack in the final period of play, forcing Tonkawa errors. Mariano Gonzalez scored on consecutive 60-yard penalty shots to bring Goose Creek to within two goals of the lead, 9-7 with 6:33 left in the game. A minute later, Sapo Caset countered with a 30-yard penalty goal of his own, and the Tonkawa lead was back to three goals, 10-7. Goose Creek continued to press but the Tonkawa defense held. Mariano Gonzalez scored the final goal of the game on a 30-yard penalty shot with just 1:31 left to play, and Tonkawa rode off with the 10-8 win.
Sapo Caset led the field with seven goals (three on penalty shots). Obregon added two goals and Costi Caset scored once for the win. Mariano Gonzalez was high-scorer for Goose Creek with six goals (five from the penalty line). Tomas Garcia del Rio and Peke Gonzalez each added a goal in a losing effort.
The win leveled Tonkawa’s record at 1-1 with Goose Creek suffering their second consecutive loss, 0-2.
The final preliminary round of play in the 2017 Iglehart Cup is scheduled to be played on Saturday, March 4th between Mt. Brilliant (Bo Goodman, Jason Crowder, Santi Chavanne and Julian Daniels) and La Indiana (Michael Bickford, Ruki Baillieu, Jeff Hall and Mike Azzaro). Mt. Brilliant will be taking the field with a 1-0 record with La Indiana looking for its first win of the tournament at 0-1.
Iglehart Cup semifinals will take place on Wednesday and Thursday, March 8th and 9th with the final scheduled to be played at noon on Sunday, March 12th.