Postage Stamp Farm 6-goaler Guille Aguero breaks loose with the ball (L to R)-Carlitos Gracida, Guille Aguero and Nic Roldan. (Photo by Alex Pacheco)
Postage Stamp Farm (Annabelle Gundlach, Brandon Phillips, Guille Aguero and Leo Mandelbaum) recorded a 10-8 win over Dutta Corp. (Timmy Dutta, Tim Dutta, Carlitos Gracida and Nic Roldan) Friday afternoon in the US Trust Cup at the Grand Champions Polo Club, earning them a second straight fall tournament final appearance while the US Trust team (Grant Ganzi, Marc Ganzi, Luis Escobar and Jesse Bray) scored four sixth chukker goals to rally past Sopris Mountain Ranch (Santos Bollini, Riley Ganzi, Wes Finlayson, Julio Ezcurra and J. J. Celis) to earn the other tournament final berth.
In the opening match of the day Postage Stamp Farm spotted Dutta Corp. one goal by handicap but had a 5-2 lead at the end of the second chukker. Two first chukker goals by Postage Stamp Farm team captain Annabelle Gundlach and a goal from teammate Leo Mandelbaum had Dutta Corp. trailing 3-1. Two second period goals from Brandon Phillips were answered by a single goal from Timmy Dutta as Postage Stamp Farm moved out to a 5-2 lead.
Timmy Dutta added two more goals in the third with Mandelbaum scoring his second goal of the day. At the end of the first half Dutta Corp. trailed by a single goal, 6-5.
Guille Aguero scored his first goal of the game to open the scoring in the fourth period, 7-5, and another goal from Gundlach made it 8-5. Dutta Corp. was unable to get on the scoreboard with Postage Stamp Farm riding off the field with a three goal, 8-5 advantage.
Both defenses stepped it up in the fifth chukker. A single goal from Timmy Dutta accounted for all of the scoring as the Postage Stamp Farm lead was reduced to two goals, 8-6.
The pace continued to pick up in the sixth chukker. Mandelbaum opened the scoring with his third goal of the afternoon in the opening minute of the period, 9-6. Gracida got Dutta Corp. on the scoreboard to cut the lead back to two goals, 9-7. Mandelbaum added his fourth goal of the afternoon at the 2:32 mark, 10-7 as Dutta Corp. struggled to forge an effective attack. Gracida scored the final goal of the game for Dutta Corp., but it was Postage Stamp Farm with the 10-8 win.
Mandelbaum led the Postage Stamp Farm attack with four goals. Gundlach scored three times; Phillips was credited with two goals and Aguero added a goal for the victory. Timmy Dutta scored for goals for Dutta Corp. Gracida added three goals and the team received one goal by handicap.
US Trust 10, Sopris Mt. Ranch 9
In the second match of the day it was US Trust beating Sopris Mt. Ranch with four goals in the final chukker for the 10-9 win.
Sopris Mt. Ranch received one goal by handicap and quickly moved in front, 2-0, on a goal from the field from Julio Ezcurra. Grant Ganzi got US Trust in the scoring column with a goal from the field as Sopris Mt. Ranch left the field at the end of the first period with a 2-1 advantage.
US Trust explode with four goals in the second chukker with Marc Ganzi scoring twice from the field while teammate Luis Escobar converted on a 70-yard penalty shot (Safety) and added another goal from the field. Ezcurra added a goal for Sopris Mt. Ranch but it was US Trust with the 5-3 lead.
Wes Finlayson scored the opening goal of the third period, cutting the US Trust lead back to a single goal, 5-4 in the opening 30 seconds of play. Midway through the chukker, however, Grant Ganzi took advantage of a Sopris Mt. Ranch foul and converted a 40-yard penalty shot. At the end of the first half it was US Trust on top of a 6-4 score.
A reorganized Sopris Mt. Ranch returned to the field in the fourth chukker and went to work both offensively and defensively. Consecutive goals from Santos Bollini and a single goal from Ezcurra were supported by shutout defense as Sopris Mt. Ranch tied and then took the lead, 7-6.
Fifth period goals from Ezcurra and J. J. Celis had Sopris Mt. Ranch b front by two goals at the end of the fifth. US Trust was held to a single goal from Grant Ganzi. Going into the final chukker of regulation play US Trust found themselves trailing by two goals, 9-7.
Grant Ganzi converted a 30-yard penalty shot to open the sixth, cutting the Sopris Mt. Ranch lead back to a single goal, 9-8. Marc Ganzi added two more goals for US Trust that gave them the lead, 10-9. Ezcurra tied the game at 10-10 with time running out and an overtime period in the wings, but a final run and goal from Marc Ganzi in the closing seconds of the final chukker gave the win to US Trust, 11-10.
Marc Ganzi scored three of his team-high five goals in the final chukker of play. Grant scored four times (two on penalty conversions) and Luis Escobar added two goals for the win. Ezcurra led the Sopris Mt. Ranch offense with five goals. Bollini added two goals and Finlayson and Celis each scored once in the loss.
The victory boosts US Trust into Sunday’s noon final against Postage Stamp Farm with Sopris Mt. Ranch facing Dutta Corp. in a 10am consolation match.
The Grand Champions Polo Club is located at 13444 Southfields Road, on the corner of South Shore Boulevard and Lake Worth Road, Wellington, 33414. The matches are free of charge and the public is invited to attend.