Argentine 9-goaler Hilario Ulloa led the White Birch attack in their 12-6 win over Faraway on the opening day of the East Coast Open at the Greenwich Polo Club.
White Birch (Santino Magrini, Hilario Ulloa, Mariano Aguerre and Peter Brant) looked like world-beaters as they raced onto the field in the opening chukker, scoring the first three goals of the game with Hilario Ulloa, Mariano Aguerre and Santino Magrini each splitting the goalposts for a 3-0 lead over Faraway (Bo Goodman, Inaki Laprida, Julian Daniels and Pelon Escapite). Inaki Laprida stopped the bleeding with the final goal of the chukker as White Birch left the field at the end of the opening chukker with a 3-1 edge.
The Faraway defense tightened up in the second period and scoring was held to a minimum in a scrappy, physical second chukker. A goal from Ulloa was the only point put up on the scoreboard with a tamer White Birch team expanding their lead to three goals, 4-1.
Faraway appeared to shake off the first chukker woes but watched as Ulloa scored the first two goals of the third period (one on a penalty conversion). Laprida converted a 40-yard penalty shot to end the first half trailing White Birch, 6-2.
A couple of minutes into the fourth chukker, Pelon Escapite scored on a great individual effort, followed by a 40-yard penalty conversion from teammate Laprida. The White Birch lead had been cut to two goals, 6-4. Ulloa closed out the scoring with a well-executed cut shot that had White Birch on top, 7-4.
White Birch controlled the fifth chukker, scoring four goals while shutting down the Faraway offense. A disheartened Faraway team left the field with one chukker left in regulation play trailing by seven goals, 11-4.
Ulloa scored his eighth goal of the match to open the sixth period and push White Birch out to a game-high eight goal lead, 12-4. A late rally garnered single goals from Bo Goodman and Laprida, but the win belonged to White Birch, 12-6.
Goose Creek 15, Beluga 11
Goose Creek (Maureen Brennan, Marcos Garcia del Rio, Tomas Garcia del Rio and Mariano Gonzalez) spotted the 17-goal Beluga polo team (Chris Brant, Nick Manifold, Francisco Elizalde and Tommy Biddle) three goals to start, and quickly fell behind, 4-0, after an opening goal from the field from Beluga’s Tommy Biddle. Mariano Gonzalez got Goose Creek on the scoreboard with a 30-yard penalty conversion, 4-1. Argentine 8-goaler Marcos Garcia Del Rio cut the Beluga lead to two goals, 4-2, with his first goal of the day. Biddle added another goal from the field for Beluga, 5-2, with Gonzalez countering with his second goal of the chukker. At the end of the first chukker It was Beluga in the lead, 5-3.
The seemingly seamless team-play of Goose Creek and solid defensive efforts left them in control of the second period. The Del Rio brothers accounted for the only scoring in the chukker with Tomas Garcia Del Rio scoring the first goal of the chukker and younger brother Marcos Garcia Del Rio tying the game with his first goal of the day. Beluga was unable to score and found themselves tied with Goose Creek, 5-5.
Goose Creek was at their best in the third chukker, scoring five unanswered goals. Tomas Garcia Del Rio added three goals with his brother Marcos and Gonzalez each scoring once. At the end of the first half it was Goose Creek with a commanding 10-5 advantage.
Tomas Garcia Del Rio and Biddle exchanged 60-yard penalty conversions as the second half got underway, 11-6, with Gonzalez scoring the only other goal of the chukker for a 12-6, six goal lead.
There was no surrender for the Beluga team, however, as they stormed onto the field for the fifth period. A pressing Beluga attack resulted in three penalty opportunities for Beluga with Biddle converting twice from 60-yards out and another from the 40-yard mark. Goose Creek was held scoreless for the first time all day, but continued to lead, 12-9.
Sixth chukker goals from Gonzalez and Marcos Garcia Del Rio stretched the Goose Creek lead to five goals, 14-9, as the Beluga rally appeared to wane. Biddle added two more penalty goals and Tomas Garcia Del Rio scored Goose Creek’s final goal in a 15-11 win.
Tomas Garcia Del Rio led the Goose Creek attack with six goals, Gonzalez scored five times and Marcos Garcia Del Rio added four goals for the win. Beluga’s Biddle scored all eight of his team’s goals, two from the field and six on penalty shots.
East Coast Open play resumes on Sunday with a 10am game between the defending championship Audi polo team (Marc Ganzi, Nic Roldan, Sebastian Merlos and Leo Mandelbaum) and Airstream (Agustin Bottaro, Guille Aguero, Matias Magrini and Kris Kampsen). The feature match of the day is scheduled to be played at 3pm at the Greenwich Polo Club’s stadium field and will see Postage Stamp Farm (Annabelle Gundlach, Salvador Ulloa, Brandon Phillips and Joao Paulo Ganon) face Tupungato (Luis Rinaldini, Santi Torres, Naco Taverna and Gaston Lisioli) in the opening round of play.
All games are being livestreamed on ChukkerTV.