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Audi becomes first National Twenty Goal finalist with 9-8 win
By Alex Webbe
Audi (Marc Ganzi, Carlitos Gracida, Nic Roldan and Carlos Gracida) rode out to a 6-3 halftime lead and held off a second half rally to score a 9-8 win over Piaget (Melissa Ganzi, Jeff Hall, Piki Alberdi and Juan Bollini) in Thursday’s semifinal match of the 2013 USPA National Twenty Goal tournament at the Grand Champions Polo Club in Wellington.
Although Piaget’s Jeff Hall scored the first goal of the day on a 60-yard penalty shot, Audi received two goals by handicap from the 20-goal Piaget lineup and went ahead, 3-1 with the benefit of a first chukker goal from Marc Ganzi.
Subdued second chukker action was limited to single goals from Melissa Ganzi and Carlos Gracida. After two periods of play, Audi held on to its two goal lead, 4-2. Carlos Gracida made it 5-2 in the opening minute of the third chukker. Hall and Marc exchanged penalty goals to close out the chukker. Audi stretched their lead to three goals to end the first half on top, 6-3.
Piki Alberdi got Piaget back into it in the fourth, scoring the first two goals of the chukker to cut the Audi lead to a single goal, 6-5. Carlos Gracida extended the Audi lead to two goals at the 2:27 mark, 7-5. Hall cut the lead back to a single goal, 7-6, scoring with just 21 seconds on the clock.
Hall tied it up at 7-7 on a 40-yard penalty conversion in the fifth, but Nic Roldan scored for Audi with under a minute remaining in the chukker. Audi left the field with an 8-7 lead.
Three minutes into the final chukker, Alberdi knotted it up at 8-8 with a goal from the field. Both teams struggled for the ball with little success. Marc Ganzi finally tallied the winning goal with 2:32 left in the game. Piaget continued to press its attack, but a determined Audi defense kept them off the scoreboard.
Carlos Gracida and Marc Ganzi scored three goals apiece in the Audi win. Roldan added a goal and the team received two goals by handicap. Tree of Hall’s game-high four goals came on penalty conversions. Alberdi scored three times from the field and Piaget team captain Melissa Ganzi scored once in a losing effort.
The second tournament semifinal between Casablanca (Grant Ganzi, Sugar Erskine, Mike Azzaro and Hector Galindo) and ELG (Avery Chapman, Guille Aguero, Kris Kampsen and Tommy Biddle) was scheduled to be played later in the afternoon but was cancelled due to heavy rains. A makeup date has not yet been established.