By Alex Webbe
The International Polo Club presented another full day of high-goal polo competition in the 20-goal Ylvisaker Cup with three games on the slate last Sunday. In the featured Ylvisaker Cup match of the day, Audi (Marc Ganzi, Lucas Lalor, Nic Roldan and Fred Mannix) overcame an early 4-1 deficit to record a 12-9 win over a talented CT Energia lineup (Alessandro Bazzoni, Kris Kampsen, Joao Ganon and Nick Manifold).
Brazilian 7-goaler Joao Ganon scored the first goal of the game in the first 30 seconds for a 1-0 advantage. Three minutes later, Ganon converted a 30-yard penalty shot for a goal to make it 2-0. Nic Roldan cut into the CT Energia lead with a goal from the field, making it 2-1. Ganon added another penalty goal at the 1:22 mark, followed by a goal from the field from Nick Manifold to end the period with CT Energia on top of a 4-1 lead.
Audi charged back into the game in the second chukker, with Roldan scoring the first two goals and cutting the CT Energia lead to a single goal, 4-3. Audi team captain Marc Ganzi tied the game with his first goal of the match, making it 4-4. Manifold put CT Energia in the lead again with his second goal of the game, making the score 5-4. Fred Mannix scored the final goal of the chukker as the horn sounded. After two periods of play, the score was tied at 5-5.
The respective defenses were at their best in the third chukker, and goals were at a premium. Roldan scored the only goal of the chukker with 2:14 on the game clock, giving Audi its first lead of the game, 6-5.
Audi had its way with CT Energia in the fourth chukker. Single goals from Ganon and Kampsen first tied, 6-6, and then gave the lead back to CT Energia, 7-6. Roldan and Mannix scored two more goals each as Audi left the field at the end of the fourth chukker with a 10-7 lead.
Roldan added another goal from the field at the 5:04 mark, and Ganzi converted a 30-yard penalty shot, ending the fifth chukker with Audi on top, 12-7.
CT Energia tried to stage a late rally and picked up a pair of goals from Manifold in the sixth and final chukker, but at the end of the game, it was Audi driving off with the 12-9 victory.
Roldan set the pace for the game, scoring seven times (twice on penalty shots) and picking up MVP honors. Mannix added three goals, and Ganzi scored twice for the win. Ganon and Manifold scored four goals each. Kampsen was credited with two goals, and Manifold’s Kiwi was named Best Playing Pony.
Orchard Hill Defeats Enigma, 10-9 — In the day’s opening 10 a.m. match, Orchard Hill (Steve Van Andel, Lucas Criado, Facundo Pieres and Remy Muller), the recent winner of the Joe Barry Memorial Cup, needed overtime to defeat a determined Enigma foursome (Jerome Wirth, Jeff Hall, Matias MacDonough and Carlucho Arellano), 10-9.
Lucchese Tops Villa Del Lago, 16-12 — In what was anticipated to be “the Polito Pieres Show,” his cousin Nico Pieres stole the spotlight from the game’s hottest commodity to score a game-high 10 goals and lead Lucchese (John Muse, Magoo Laprida, Nico Pieres and Geronimo Obregon) to a convincing 16-12 win over Villa Del Lago (Jim Zenni, Agustin Obregon, Polito Pieres and Julian de Lusarreta).
The high-goal polo season continues at IPC this weekend with more Ylvisaker Cup action. Learn more at www.internationalpoloclub.com.
ABOVE: After trading the lead back and forth, Audi took control of the game in the fourth chukker. Photo by Alex Pacheco
