Mansour to play Merchant Hub in America Cup Finals

By Alex Webbe

Three more games in the USPA Lucchese America Cup set the stage for Sunday’s finals at the Santa Barbara Polo Club as Mansour (Ben Soleimani, Hilario Ulloa, Adam Snow, Santi Von Wernich) scored their third straight win, 14-10 over ERG (Scott Wood, Jason Crowder, Jeff Blake and Paco de Narvaez) to earn a trip to the finals. The game was played on the Piocho Ranch field.

Paco de Narvaez and Jason Crowder (sitting in for Sugar Erskine for the game) scored two goals apiece in the opening chukker for an early 4-1 lead.  Hilario Ulloa scored a single goal for Mansour. 

Mansour rebounded with three straight goals to open the second chukker, tying the score at 4-4.  Ulloa scored first followed by Adam Snow and Santi Von Wernich.  Crowder closed out the chukker with his third goal of the day to put ERG ahead, 5-4.

The two teams exchanged goals in the third chukker.  De Narvaez converted a 60-yard penalty shot (Safety) for a goal, 6-4, followed by a pair of goals from Mansour (Ulloa and Snow) that tied it up again at 6-6.  Once again, Crowder ended the chukker with a go-ahead goal for ERG, who held a halftime lead of 7-6.

Snow and de Narvaez exchanged single goals to open the second half with ERG maintaining its narrow one goal lead, 8-7.  Ulloa tied it up at 8-8 with his fourth goal of the game to end the chukker.

Consecutive goals from Ulloa and Snow (40-yard penalty conversion) had Mansour on top, 10-8.  Ben Soleimani made it three goals in a row for Mansour as they stretched their lead to 11-8.  Jeff Blake stopped the onslaught by converting a 30-yard penalty shot for a goal, 11-9.  Snow answered with his fifth goal of the game to make it 12-9.  Blake’s 40-yard penalty goal ended the chukker with Mansour holding a 12-10 advantage over a now struggling ERG foursome.

The Mansour defense showed up in the sixth chukker and did their job, blanking the ERG offense while Ulloa and Snow each added single goals for the 14-10 victory.

Ulloa and Snow scored six goals apiece for Mansour (3-0).  Soleimani and Von Wernich added single goals in the win.  Crowder and de Narvaez were credited with four goals each for ERG (1-2).  Blake scored twice on penalty shots in a losing effort.

MERCHANT HUB 10, LUCCHESE 8

Merchant Hub (Matias Bullrich, Michel Dorignac, Toto Collardin and Luis Escobar) earned the second finalist position with a well-orchestrated 10-8 win over Lucchese (Andres Weisz, Tavi Usandizaga, Peon Stirling and John Muse) in the first of the afternoon games, played on the ERG field.

Goals by Andres Weisz and Tavi Usandizaga had Lucchese in front, briefly, but Merchant Hub charged back.  Michel Dorignac and Luis Escobar scored single goals from the field and Dorignac converted a 40-uard penalty shot for a goal and a 3-2 lead after the first chukker of play.

Weisz and 10-goaler Pelon Stirling opened the second period with single goals.  Weisz tied it up with a goal from the field while Stirling gave Lucchese the lead, 4-3, on a 60-yard penalty shot.  Toto Collardin ended the chukker with his first goal of the game for a 4-4 tie.

Offensive goals were not to be found in the third chukker.  Lucchese kept Merchant Hub from scoring from the field, but penalties gave Dorignac three opportunities to score from the penalty line, and he obliged by scoring all three of them for a 7-4 Merchant Hub halftime lead.

Two fourth chukker goals by Stirling went unanswered. The Merchant Hub lead had been reduced to a single goal, and Lucchese was knocking on the door.

For the second time in the course of the game Lucchese was frozen out offensively.  Dorignac scored twice from the field for the only goals of the chukker for a three goal, 9-6 advantage.

Escobar gave Merchant Hub a four goals lead as the sixth chukker got underway.  Usandizaga and Stirling scored single goals, but the Merchant Hub defense was up to the task and held on for the 10-8 win.

Dorignac led the Merchant Hub (2-1) offense with seven goals (four on penalty shots).  Escobar added two goals and Collardin scored once.  Stirling was credited with four goals for Lucchese (1-2).  Usandizaga and Weisz each scored twice in the loss.

Merchant Hub will face Mansour in the finals of the 2013 USPA Lucchese Silver Cup on Sunday, July 28^th at 1PM.

FMB 14, LA HERRADURA 13 OT

La Herradura (Alvaro Fernandez, Marianito Obregon, Carlos Gracida and Juan Martin Obregon) led throughout most of the game before losing a heartbreaker to Farmers and Merchants Bank (Dan Walker, Inaki Laprida, Lucas Criado and Henry Walker) 14-13 in overtime.

An altered La Herradura had Juan Martin Obregon filling in for Memo Gracida who had been sent off the field in their last game, and the team took the field with an 18-goal handicap.

La Herradura scored the opening two goals on penalty shots; with Marianito Obregon and Alvaro Fernandez giving them a 4-2 advantage (La Herradura received two goals by handicap from the 20-goal FMB lineup.  Lucas Criado scored the last three goals of the chukker (the last one on a 40-yard penalty conversion) to trail 4-3.

Carlos Gracida converted a 40-yard penalty shot to open the second period and followed it up with a goal from the field, 6-3.  FMB returned the fire with a pair of goals from Criado (one on a penalty shot) and a goal from the field from Dan Walker.  After two chukkers it was all even at 6-6.

La Herradura shutout FMB in the third and added goals from Juan Martin Obregon and his older brother Marianito Obregon.  At the end of the first half La Herradura boasted an 8-6 edge over FMB.

The Obregons each added a goal in the fourth period while the La Herradura held FMB to a single goal from Criado.  The lead had been expanded to three goals, 10-7, with two chukkers left in regulation time.

Carlos Gracida scored a goal from the field and a goal from the field in the fourth, but after being held to a single goal in the previous two chukkers, FMB had found its offense.  Penalty goals from Inaki Laprida and Criado were complimented with a goal from the field from Dan Walker.  FMB had cut into the La Herradura lead, but continued to trail by two goals, 12-10.

Juan Martin Obregon’s third goal of the game gave La Herradura a three goals lead, 13-10, but FMB continued to press its attack.  La Herradura got into foul trouble that had Criado converting three consecutive penalty shots for goals to end the sixth chukker in a 13-13 tie and force overtime.

It was Criado’s eleventh goal of the game that was scored in the overtime to give FMB the win, 14-13, as a shocked La Herradura team looked on. 

Criado led the scoring with eleven goals (six on penalty shots).  Dan Walker scored twice and Laprida added a goal for the victory.  Carlos Gracida scored four times for La Herradura (twice on penalty conversions).  Marianito Obregon and Juan Martin Obregon scored three goals apiece and Fernandez added a goal in a losing effort.

Sunday’s action is scheduled to get started with two 10AM consolation matches followed by the final between Mansour and Merchant Hub at 1PM.