Palm House to meet Audi in finals

By Alex Webbe

Palm House (Juancito Bollini, Guille Aguero, Kris Kampsen and Scott Swerdlin) scored

wins over ELG (Carlitos Gracida, Marc Ganzi, Nic Roldan and Avery Chapman), 5-3;

and Casablanca (Grant Ganzi, Leo Mandelbaum, Mike Azzaro and Wes Finlayson), 4-

2; in round-robin play to earn a berth in Sunday’s finals of the 2013 USPA Fall Plates at

the Grand Champions Polo Club in Wellington.

Palm House got on the scoreboard first with a goal from the field from Kris Kampsen.

ELG answered back with a goal from Marc Ganzi for a first chukker 1-1 tie.

Two more second chukker goals from Kampsen had Palm House in the lead, 3-2.

Ganzi converted a penalty shot for ELG’s only goal of the period.

Ganzi scored his third goal of the contest in the third and last chukker of the mini-match

with Palm House but single goals from Juancito Bollini and Guille Aguero were enough

to carry the team past ELG, 5-3.

ELG 5, CASABLANCA 2

ELG held the field for the next three chukkers, facing Casablanca (Grant Ganzi, Leo

Mandelbaum, Mike Azzaro and Wes Finlayson) and trying to get on the winning track.

American 8-goaler Nic Roldan scored the first and only goal of the opening chukker as

ELG’s defense shut down Mike Azzaro and a talented Casablanca lineup. ELG entered

the second period with a 1-0 advantage.

Carlitos Gracida and Roldan each added single goals in the second period followed by

a score from Ganzi for a 4-1 lead. Leo Mandelbaum scored the only goal of the chukker

for Casablanca as they trailed by three goals with only one period to play.

Gracida and Azzaro exchanged goals in the final chukker as ELG chalked up their first

win of the day, 5-2, over a disorganized Casablanca effort.

PALM HOUSE 4, CASABLANCA 2

Palm House wrapped it up in the final three chukkers of the day with a 4-2 win over

Casablanca.

Wes Finlayson scored the first and only goal of the opening chukker as both teams

struggled finding the range on shots at goal. Palm House came up empty-handed and

trailed 1-0.

A second consecutive goal from Finlayson had Casablanca ahead 2-0 in the opening

minutes of the second period. However, Juancito Bollini got on track, scoring twice to

tie it up for Palm House, 2-2.

Guille Aguero sealed the deal for Palm House, scoring twice from the field for a 4-

2 edge. Casablanca missed a number of scoring opportunities as they fell to Palm

House, 4-2.

The double win boosted Palm House into the Sunday finals against Audi (Kaiser

Maakar, Melissa Ganzi, Luis Escobar and Juan Bollini). Beluga (Misha Rodzianko,

Mariano Gracida, Brandon Phillips and Joey Casey), and early loser to Audi in the

tournament opener, will join ELG and Casablanca in the consolation round-robin.