Alegria and Casablanca will meet Sunday at 4 p.m. in the championship final of the World Polo League’s Founders Cup at Grand Champions Polo Club.
By Sharon Robb
Photos by Candace Ferreira
In front of a good crowd on Friday, both teams looked impressive in their semifinal matches. Alegria defeated Maltese Falcons, 11-8, and Casablanca edged Travieso in a thriller, 12-11.
Casablanca will be going after its second WPL title after winning the season-opening 32-Goal All-Star Challenge Riemenschneider Memorial.
CASABLANCA 12, TRAVIESO 11
Casablanca (Grant Ganzi, 3, Hilario Figueras, 6, Rufino Bensadon, 8, Sapo Caset, 9) had six two-goal leads throughout the game and three-goal leads three times in the fourth and fifth chukkers before Travieso (Tony Calle, 3, Pipe Vercellino 7, Juan Martin Zubia, 9, Santi Toccalino, 7) clawed its way back in the final chukker.
With Casablanca taking an 11-8 lead into the sixth chukker, Travieso started to reel them in. With 6:09 left, Toccalino converted a 30-yard penalty to cut the lead to 11-9. Three minutes later, Toccalino converted another 30-yard penalty from the spot to trail 11-10. With 1:26 left, Vercellino weaved his way through a crowd of players to tie the game, 11-11.
The 23-year-old Bensadon came up big with only 10 seconds when he took a perfect pass from Caset and scored to clinch the win.
Casablanca out shot Travieso, 20-15. Each team won 13 throw-ins. Travieso led in knock-ins, 8-4. Casablanca had seven fouls and Travieso four. Casablanca outscored Travieso, 7-5, in the first half. Travieso outscored Casablanca, 6-5 in the second half despite getting shut out in the fifth chukker.
Casablanca was led by Bensadon in scoring who had a game-high six goals, including three goals in the fourth chukker. Caset had four goals. Ganzi and Figueras each had one goal.
For Travieso, Vercellino had a team-high five goals. Toccalino had three, Zubia had two and Calle added one.
ALEGRIA 11, MALTESE FALCONS 8
Alegria (Jason Crowder 5, Fred Mannix 7, Nic Roldan, 7, Tommy Collingwood 5) jumped out to a fast start rolling to an 8-0 lead before Maltese Falcons (Melissa Ganzi, 0, Matias Gonzalez, 5, Pablo MacDonough, 10, Juan Martin Nero 10) scored its first goal of the game with 36 seconds left before halftime.
With Collingwood playing well in the back, Mannix played well within his team’s rotation. With Roldan feeding him long passes, Mannix found the space to score.
Maltese Falcons could not get its offensive attack going against a stiff defense which shut them out in the first two chukkers, 2-0 and 4-0. Maltese Falcons had opportunities to score but was unable to capitalize and trailed 8-1 in the first half.
In the first half, Alegria outshot Maltese Falcons, 12-5, while Maltese Falcons led in knock-ins, 5-4. Each team won five throw-ins. Alegria led in fouls, 4-1, but it didn’t seem to affect its play.
Maltese Falcons were more aggressive and started digging themselves out of a hole in the fourth chukker. The plays they were unable to pull off in the first half, started working in the second half. With 6:23 left, MacDonough let loose a big ball close to the goal posts with Gonzalez scoring to trail, 8-2. Crowder and Ganzi exchanged goals to end the chukker, 9-3.
Maltese Falcons picked up the pace even more in the fifth chukker hitting long balls including a 130-yard goal by Nero to trail 10-4. MacDonough converted a 40-yard penalty to trail, 10-5 with 4:43 left. Roldan stole the ball in the closing seconds to extend Alegria’s lead 11-5 to end the chukker.
Maltese Falcons made it interesting in the sixth chukker, shutting out Alegria, 3-0, with goals from Gonzalez, MacDonough and Nero.
Maltese Falcons ended up outshooting Alegria, 18-15 and led in throw-ins, 11-10. Alegria led in knock-ins, 10-5, and fouls, 12-1.
Mannix scored a game-high five goals, including a safety-60, all in the first half. Roldan had three goals. Crowder and Collingwood each added one goal. The 24-goal team picked up one goal on handicap.
For Maltese Falcons, Gonzalez and MacDonough each had three goals. Ganzi and Nero each had one goal.
The WPL, the winter season’s biggest highlight, is the only 26-goal polo played outside of Argentina.
The WPL kicked off its seventh season on Feb. 16th making history with a first-of-its kind 32-goal matchup at Grand Champions. Casablanca (Sapo Caset, 9, Grant Ganzi, 3, Tommy Panelo, 10, Juan Martin Nero, 10) led from start to finish to defeat Santa Rita (Nic Roldan, 7, Tomacho Pieres, 6, Pablo MacDonough, 10, Juan Martin Zubia, 9), 8-5. Caset led Casablanca with a game-high five goals and was MVP.
The remaining two WPL tournaments are the March 5-23 Palm Beach Open and March 26-April 12 Triple Crown of Polo.
In last year’s Founders Cup final, Park Place won its first 26-goal WPL title. Making its WPL debut in the Founders Cup, Park Place (Andrey Borodin, 0, Toly Ulloa, 8, Hilario Ulloa, 10, Cody Ellis, 5) led from start to finish to defeat La Irenita (Gilberto Sayao, 0, Tomacho Pieres, 6, Gonzalito Pieres, 9, Pablo MacDonough, 10), 17-14. Hilario Ulloa scored a team-high eight goals including five penalty conversions and was named MVP.