Ylvisaker Cup results

Audi and Equuleus score wins in
Ylvisaker Cup play

By Alex Webbe

Two one-goal victories highlighted the day at the International Polo Club in Wellington
with Audi knocking off Piaget 10-9 in overtime while Equuleus held on to defeat ERG
12-11 in the opening round of play in the 2012 Ylvisaker Cup.

Although a milestone in the career of any young polo player, the debut of 13-year-old
Grant Ganzi on the Piaget team couldn’t slow down the Audi attack as Marc Ganzi
(Grant’s father) led his team to a 10-9 win in sudden-death overtime over wife Melissa’s
Piaget foursome.

“Marc and I play against one another all of the time,” said Melissa. “We thought this
would be a good opportunity for Grant to get some experience at the high-goal level,”
she added.

Audi opened play with a pair of goals from Nic Roldan (one from the field and one on a
penalty conversion), with Jason Crowder scoring a chukker ending goal to get Piaget on
the scoreboard.

Piaget turned it on in the second period, adding two more goals from Crowder while
holding Audi to a single goal from Rodrigo Andrade. After two chukkers of play it was
all even at 3-3.

Crowder’s fourth goal of the game had Piaget ahead 4-3 when Audi responded. A goal
from Roldan and three consecutive goals from Andrade, the last being batted out of
mid-air for the score, stopped Piaget in their tracks as Audi rode off of the field on top of
a 7-4 score.

Argentine 9-goaler Miguel Astrada scored his first goal of the day in the fourth, but
Roldan quickly answered back, taking control of the ensuing throw-in and carrying it
down the field for a score. Audi maintained a three goal lead after four chukkers, 8-5.

Astrada flexed his polo muscles in the fifth, first by converting a 60-yard penalty shot for
a goal and then by picking up the ball of his own goal line and dashing nearly 300 yards
for a goal. Audi was held scoreless for the first time all day but continued to lead, 8-7.

After two near goals earlier in the game, Grant Ganzi finally got on the scoreboard
with a tying shot in the sixth, 8-8. Marc Ganzi responded with an Audi goal, but with
seconds on the clock, Astrada nailed a shot through the Audi goal posts for a 9-9 tie

and sudden-death overtime.

Both Audi (1-0) and Piaget (0-1) had early opportunities to control the ball, but it was
Andrade who scored the game winner for the 10-9 win.

Astrada and Crowder scored four goals apiece for Piaget. Grant Ganzi added a goal in
a losing effort.

Andrade registered five goals for Audi. Roldan contributed four for the win and Marc
Ganzi accounted for a goal.

EQUULEUS 12, ERG 11

Both Equuleus and ERG made their 2012 debuts Friday afternoon in an opening round
of the Ylvisaker Cup, but showed mid-season form as they battled to a 12-11 Equuleus
win in the 20-goal competition.

Agustin Merlos opened the scoring with a penalty goal for ERG, but Equuleus promptly
responded with a penalty goal from Mariano Gonzalez. Goals from ERG team captain
Scott Wood and teammate Ulysses Escapite ended with ERG leading, 3-1.

Another penalty goal from Merlos in the second had ERG up, 4-1. Gonzalez scored
on a 60-yard penalty shot and Paco de Narvaez scored on a beautifully executed
backhander-from an angle, making it a one goal game, 4-3. Merlos added a final goal,
and ERG preserved its lead, 5-3.

Escapite’s second goal on the afternoon had ERG leading by three goals in the fourth
chukker, 6-3, when Equuleus stormed back into the game. De Narvaez scored once
from the field and once on a penalty shot, and the period ended with ERG defending a
narrow 6-5 advantage at the end of the first half against a surging Equuleus team.

Merlos converted a 60-yard penalty shot in the fifth chukker, but that would be the last
ERG goal scored for the duration of the period. Gonzalez added two penalty goals to
the Equuleus total and de Narvaez scored a goal from the field. With one chukker left to
play, ERG trailed 11-9.

Merlos cut the Equuleus lead to a single goal with his fourth penalty goal of the match,
and Luis Escobar tied it up, 11-11, with his first goal of the game.

Gonzalez scored his sixth penalty goal of the day for a 12-11 lead that held up in the
final 34 seconds of play, and Equuleus celebrated its 12-11 win.

Gonzalez led all scoring with seven goals. De Narvaez scored five times in a winning
effort.

Merlos led the ERG team with six goals. Escapite added two goals and Wood and
Escobar each scored a goal.