Crowds clamor for more beach polo action in

 

Grey Goose North Beach Women’s Cup Finals

By Alex Webbe

Warmer weather and light breezes greeted the nearly two thousand spectators that showed
up at Chicago’s North Avenue Beach for Sunday’s final round of play in the debut of the Grey
Goose North Beach Women’s Polo Cup.

The finalists had been determined in Saturday’s contests with Gascon and Lufthansa scoring
wins over Grey Goose and Trump Residence, respectively, while Titan Commercial and
Lufthansa emerged from the five teams in contention for the world cup.

The highly-touted Gascon polo team of Melissa Hornung, Tara Lordi and Angela York arrived
in Chicago as the odds-on favorite in the Grey Goose North Beach Women’s Polo Cup, and did
little to tarnish their image as York scored the opening goal of the game for a 1-0 lead after the
first period of play.

Lufthansa responded with goals from Megan West and Whitney Vogt (penalty conversion).
Hornung’s first goal of the day had the score knotted up at 2-2 after the first half of play.

Valerie Biehl opened the scoring in the third to give Lufthansa a 3-2 advantage, but Gascon
fought back to get the tying goal on a penalty shot from York. The score was all even at 3-3
with one chukker left to play in regulation time.

Vogt’s second penalty goal of the game came in the fourth chukker and gave Lufthansa a 4-3
edge with time running out when Tara Lordi scored her first goal of the game to knot it up at 4-
4 as time expired.

A confident Gascon team stepped up for the overtime shoot-out, a formula that would allow
each member of each team an opportunity to score on a penalty shot with each team taking
turns until the winner emerged.

Hornung, Lordi and York had captured the South Beach championship in April in the same
manner, and were confident of their chances in Chicago. With five of the first six shots going
wide of the mark, and all three Gascon shots missing the mark, it would be Vogt who would
prove the difference scoring her third goal of the day for the Lufthansa win.

Vogt led all scoring with three goals. Teammates West and Biehl added single goals in the win.

York led the Gascon team with a pair of goals. Hornung and Lordi scored single goals in a losing

effort.

Vogt was named MVP for her efforts while Marcelo Cabeza’s Negrita, played by Tara Lordi, was
named Best Playing Pony.

GREY GOOSE TAKES CONSOLATION ROUND OF PLAY

In earlier action, Grey Goose scored a narrow 4-3 win over Trump Residence on a penalty shot
from Samantha Falbe in the final seconds of regulation play to capture the consolation round of
the Grey Goose North Beach Women’s Polo Cup.

Trump took the early lead on first chukker goals from Nigeria’s Neku Atawodi and Tracy Regas,
with Grey Goose settling for a lone goal from Brazilian Paula Chermont. Falbe tied it up at 2-
2 in the second chukker, but Regas closed out the first half scoring with her second goal of the
game for a 3-2 halftime lead for the Trump Residence trio.

Both teams pressed the attack in the second half of play, but defense held firm. Penalty
conversions from Aimee Waters in the third and Falbe in the fourth accounted for the final
scores of the match. Falbe’s penalty shot came with seconds left to play and secured the win
for the Grey Goose team.