2012 US Women's Open Championship

----Forwarded using Multi-Forward Chrome Extension---From: Alex Webbe Date: Tue Nov 13 2012 00:22:33 GMT+0530 (IST)Subject: 2012 US Women's Open ChampionshipTo:

A-FPony Farm wins U. S. Women’s Open Championship in overtime

ByAlex Webbe

In a hard-fought, physical battle that left winners and losersbruised and sore, A-F Pony Farm (Karen Reese, Dayelle Fargey, Tiffany Busch andLia Salvo) scored an exciting 6-5 overtime win over a star-studded internationalSan Saba polo team (Dawn Jones, Caroline Anier, Clarissa Echezaretta and LesleyAnn Masterton Fong-Yee) in the finals of the 2012 U. S. Women’s OpenChampionship at the Houston Polo Club.

“It’s just so amazing,” said an exuberant Tiffany Busch,following the win. “I can’t believe it,”she added.

With an altered lineup that had Lia Salvo replacing theinjured Abbey Riggs (Abby was injured in a hard ride-off in the final chukkerof Friday’s semifinals against BTA), the A-F pony Farm foursome took the fieldagainst a powerful San Saba lineup that included French 2-goaler Caroline Anierand Jamaican 2-goaler Lesley Ann Masterton Fong-Yee. Add to that a strong 1-goal captain in DawnJones and veteran Clarissa Echezaretta, and you see a very impressive poloteam.

A-F Pony Farm might appear relative docile on thesurface, but make no mistake of the talents and abilities of each of itsplayers. Abbey Riggs, Karen Reese andtiffany Busch are well-known commodities on the playing fields, and theaddition of former 2-goaler Dayelle Fargey seemed to be the perfect blend.

San Saba’s path to Sunday’s finals came at the expense ofERG (Crystal Cassidy, Cecelia Cochran, Ina Lalor and Mumy Bellande) in a 7-4win followed by an exciting win over the defending championship Goose Creek team(Maureen Brennan, Carin Middleton, Kristy Outhier and Sunny Hale). A-F Pony Farms route wasn’t quite that easy.

A first round Bye was followed by a second round loss toGoose Creek, but an 8-7 win over BTA in semifinal action allowed them to sneakinto the finals. It was in thesemifinals, however, that Abbey Riggs was injured and forced to sit out thefinals. Argentine 2-goaler Lia Salvofilled in for her, and the rest is history.

San Saba and A-F Pony Farm battled back and forththroughout the game, with the two teams leaving the field after the first twochukkers of play in a 3-3 tie.

“It was brutally even,” related Tiffany Busch, “It was constantlyback and forth,” she added. “They wereup by a goal, we were up by a goal, then we were tied, it was brutal,” shesaid.

San Saba took a 5-4 lead into the final 30 seconds ofregulation play when Lia Salvo broke through to score the tying goal and forceovertime.

The two teams returned to the field for the overtimeperiod and played over two minutes into it when Tiffany Busch drove awell-executed neck-shot through the goal posts for the win.

“I have sores and bruises all over my body,” said Tiffanythe day after the match, “but I am so excited.”

With the girls shipping horses back home, tiffany Buschwill be heading back to Florida where she will have a brief rest beforepreparing to join Melissa Ganzi and sunny Hale to play with a US team against a7-goal English women’s lineup on Sunday, November 25^th at the GrandChampions Polo Club in Wellington.

Audi defeats Grand Champions in USPA National Twenty-Goal

By Alex Webbe

Audi (Marc Ganzi, Carlitos Gracida, Nic Roldan and Carlos Gracida) took the first step in its effort to sweep this fall’s 20-goal tournaments by downing Grand Champions (Wes Finlayson, Jason Crowder, Tommy Biddle and Joey Casey) 11-8 in the first round of play in the 2012 USPA National Twenty-Goal tournament.

Audi captured the USPA North America cup with a 6-5 win over Piaget on Sunday, and flexed its offensive muscles in Monday’s game with Grand Champions.

Carlitos Gracida opened the scoring with consecutive goals in the first chukker for a 2-0 lead. Tommy Biddle converted a penalty shot to end the period, trailing Audi by a single goal, 2-1.

Jason Crowder tied it up in the second, and Biddle added two more penalty goals. Marc Ganzi converted a penalty shot for a goal for Audi, but after two chukkers Grand champions held a 4-3 edge.

Biddle added another penalty goal in the third, but Nic Roldan’s mallet was red hot. The talented 8-goaler scored four goals from the field, giving Audi a 7-5 halftime advantage.

Roldan and Carlitos Gracida added single goals in the fourth while the Audi defense kept Grand Champions off of the scoreboard. The Audi lead had stretched to four goals at the end of the fourth chukker, 9-5.

Carlitos Gracida dazzled the spectators with some fancy stickwork in the fifth, scoring his fourth goal of the game. Crowder answered with a goal for Grand Champions, but Audi held the four goal lead, 10-6.

Another penalty goal for Biddle and a goal from the field from Wes Finlayson had Grand Champions trailing by two goals, 10-8. A missed penalty shot by Grand Champions and a change in the direction of play allowed Roldan to score for the sixth time to give the win to Audi in an 11-8 game.

Roldan led all scoring with six goals. Carlitos Gracida added four goals and Marc Ganzi scored once for the win.

Biddle converted five penalty shots for goals for Grand Champions. Crowder registered two goals and Finlayson scored once in the loss.

USPA National Twenty-Goal play is scheduled to continue on Wednesday with an 11AM game between Piaget (0-0) and Daniel Henry (0-1); followed by a 3PM contest featuring La Karina (0-0) and Grand Champions (0-1).