Michel Dorignac scored two first chukker goals (one on a penalty conversion) for 5-Star Builders/Tackeria (Kristos Magrini, Matt Coppola, Joaquin Panelo and Michel Dorignac) while limiting the Palm Beach Equine (Agustin Arellano, Ezequiel Zubiaurre, Gringo Colombres and Scott Swerdlin) attack to a single score from Gringo Colombres for the opening 2-1 lead in the preliminary round of play in the $50,000 National 12-goal at the Grand Champions Polo Club Tuesday afternoon.
Consecutive goals from the field from Matt Coppola extended the 5-Star Builders/Tackeria lead to three goals, 4-1 in second round action. Colombres scored on a 30-yard penalty shot that kept Palm Beach Equine from getting blanked and cutting the led back to two goals, 4-2 to end the period.
Dorignac opened the third period with his third goal of the day, 5-2, with Palm Beach Equine struggling to find their offense. Colombres responded with a goal that left Palm Beach Equine trailing by two goals, 5-3, at the end of the first half.
Dorignac scored the first goal of the second half from the field followed by a pair of goals from teammate Joaquin Panelo as 5-Star Builders/Tackeria expanded their lead to five goals, 8-3. Agustin Arellano scored the final goal of the chukker for Palm Beach Equine but 5-Star Builders/Tackeria was clearly in control of the game.
Colombres opened the scoring in the fifth period with a 30-yard penalty goal followed by a goal from the field from Ezequiel Zubiaurre that cut the lead to two goals, 8-6. Coppola scored for the third time on the day to give 5-Star Builders/Tackeria a 9-6 advantage going into the final chukker of play.
The 5-Star Builders/Tackeria players didn’t take the sixth chukker lightly as they continued to hammer away at the Palm Beach Equine defense. Goals from the field from Coppola and Dorignac were accompanied by a 60-yard penalty conversion from Panelo. Palm Beach Equine was unable to score and found themselves on the losing end of a 12-6 score.
Dorignac led all scoring with five goals (four from the field). Coppola added four goals and Panelo scored two of his three goals on penalty shots for the win. Colombres led the Palm Beach Equine attack with four goals (two on penalty conversions). Zubiaurre and Arellano each scored once in the loss.
The victory lifts 5-Star Builders/Tackeria into the tournament semifinals at the Grand Champions Polo Club on Friday where they will face Palm Beach Illustrated (Todd Thurston, Jared Zenni, Geronimo Obregon and Jesse Bray) in a 1:30 contest. The game will be preceded by the other semifinal at 11am between Casablanca (Grant Ganzi, Leo Mandelbaum, Juancito Bollini and Mark Tomlinson) and Pony Express (Bob Daniels, Justin Daniels, Bautista Urbina and Tomas Goti).
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