La Herradura beats Farmers &

Merchants Bank 13-12

By Alex Webbe

The high-goal season is officially underway on the West Coast as the 20-goal La

Herradura team (Guillermo Steta, Marianito Obregon, Carlos Gracida and Jason

Crowder) beat Farmers & Merchants Bank (Dan Walker, Michel Dorignac, Lucas Criado

and Henry Walker) 13-12 in the semifinals of the El Encanto Polo Classic I at the

historic Santa Barbara Polo Club.

The El Encanto Polo Classic is the first of four major 20-goal tournaments that include

the USPA Lucchese America Cup, the USPA Piaget Silver Cup and the Bombardier

Pacific Coast Open.

Argentine 7-goaler Michel Dorignac scored the first goal of the Friday morning game

for Farmers & Merchants Bank followed by a goal from teammate Lucas Criado, 2-0.  

Jason Crowder got La Herradura on the scoreboard to close out the chukker.  Farmers

& Merchants Bank took the early lead, 2-1.

Marianito Obregon tied the game at 2-2 with his first goal from the field for La Herradura

and added another goal on a 40-yard penalty conversion for a 3-2 lead.  Dan Walker

scored the final goal of the period to deadlock it at 3-3.

Criado opened the third with two straight goals, giving Farmers & Merchants Bank a two

goal, 5-3 lead.  Crowder added two from the field for La Herradura followed by a pair of

penalty conversions for goals from Obregon.  At the end of the first half La Herradura

was leading, 7-5.

Crowder and Dorignac exchanged goals in the opening minutes of the fourth chukker,

8-6, followed by a goal from Henry Walker that brought Farmers & Merchants Bank

within a goal of La Herradura, 8-7.  Farmers & Merchants Bank got into foul trouble,

and it cost them as Obregon converted three consecutive penalty shots to an 11-7 La

Herradura advantage.  Henry Walker scored the final goal of the chukker.  La Herradura

stretched their lead to three goals, 11-8.

For the first time all morning Farmers & Merchants Bank kept their opponent off of

the scoreboard.  Criado and Dorignac each added a penalty goal to the Farmers &

Merchants Bank total, trailing La Herradura by a single goal, 11-10.

Guillermo Steta scored the opening goal of the sixth followed by a goal from the field

from Obregon.  La Herradura extended their lead to three goals, 13-10.  Criado fought

bravely back, adding two goals to the Farmers & Merchants Bank total when the offense

stalled and La Herradura celebrated the 13-12 victory.

Obregon led all scorers with eight goals.  Crowder accounted for four goals and Steta

chipped in a goal as well.  Criado led the Farmers & Merchants Bank offense with six

goals, Dorignac scored three times; Dan Walker added two goals and Dan Walker was

credited with a single goal in the loss.

The win boosts La Herradura into Sunday’s finals against Mansour (Ben Soleimani,

Rico Mansur, Adam Snow and Santi Von Wernich).

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