Casablanca and Tonkawa inched closer to the World Polo League Triple Crown of Polo championship final at Grand Champions Polo Club.
By Sharon Robb
Photos by Candace Ferreira
Both teams won key games on Monday setting up their Thursday matchup at 11 a.m. Casablanca (1-1) defeated Maltese Falcons (1-2), 13-10, and Tonkawa (2-0) downed Travieso (1-2), 11-9.
If Casablanca wins on Thursday, Casablanca and Tonkawa will advance to Saturday’s final. If Tonkawa wins, Casablanca drops into a three-way tie on record (1-2).
CASABLANCA 13, MALTESE FALCONS 10
Casablanca (Grant Ganzi, 3, Hilario Figueras, 6, Rufino Bensadon, 8, Sapo Caset, 9) was faced with a challenge before the game even started. The 26-goal team had to give up five goals on handicap to the 21-goal Maltese Falcons (Pamela Flanagan Devaleix, 0, Sugar Erskine, 6, Alejandro Novillo Astrada, 7, Nacho Novillo Astrada, 8).
Pamela Flanagan Devaleix, making her 26-goal WPL debut, opened the first chukker with a goal making it a 6-0 deficit. Casablanca needed three chukkers to chip away at the deficit but prevailed for a 13-10 victory.
“Pam made a great run and great play. For us to see 6-0 was a challenge,” Ganzi said. “For me what helped us was Sapo saying it’s a long, long game, just give it time, take a breath, we have a lot of time left. It worked well. Another thing he said before the half was let’s get this deficit trimmed because before we know it we’re going to be chasing.”
Casablanca trailed 6-2 after the first chukker before making headway in the next two chukkers. Ganzi tied the game at 6-6 at the 1:17 mark and Maltese Falcons regained the lead, 7-6, after Devaleix pass play to Nacho Novillo Astrada scored for the goal.
In the third chukker, Caset scored back-to-back goals to tie the game, 7-7, and go ahead 8-7 just before the half.
In the first half, Casablanca outshot Maltese Falcons, 12-5. Each team won five throw-ins. Maltese Falcons led knock-ins, 4-3. Only two fouls were committed, both by Casablanca.
Casablanca outscored Maltese Falcons, 5-3, in the second half. Maltese Falcons had trouble generating its offense against Casablanca’s stingy defense. Casablanca led 10-7 after the fourth chukker and 12-9 after the fifth.
For the game, Casablanca led shots-on-goal, 20-11 and throw-ins, 10-7. Maltese Falcons led knock-ins, 7-6. Only four fouls were committed, three by Casablanca.
Ganzi and Caset shared high scorer honors, each with four goals. Bensadon had three goals and Figueras added two. Alejandro Novillo Astrada led Maltese Falcons with three goals and Devaleix had two. The 21-goal team were given five goals on handicap.
TONKAWA 11, TRAVIESO 9
Tonkawa (Jeff Hildebrand, 0, Mackie Weisz, 6, Tommy Panelo, 10, Juan Martin Nero, 10) got off to a slow start, falling behind 4-1 before regaining its composure for an 11-9 win over Travieso (Tony Calle, 3, Pipe Vercellino, 7, Fred Mannix, 7, Juan Martin Zubia, 9)
Travieso has been a thorn in Tonkawa’s side for most of the season.
The talented teams bring out the best in each other. By the third chukker, Tonkawa had the lead, 5-4, on Weisz 40-yard penalty conversion. Mannix scored to go into the half tied 5-5.
In the first half, Travieso outshot Tonkawa, 14-6. Travieso led in throw-ins, 9-2, and Tonkawa led knock-ins, 9-1. Only four fouls were committed, two by each team.
Panelo opened the fourth chukker with a goal followed by another Weisz penalty conversion to take a 7-5 lead. Hildebrand connected with Panelo for another goal followed by Nero scoring to lead, 9-5. Tonkawa never trailed after that. Panelo came up with four key steals in the second half.
Travieso worked its way back in the sixth chukker with Mannix’ goal cutting the lead to 9-8 after great teamwork with all three teammates involved with the goal drive. But it was the closest Travieso would get. Nero scored again and Panelo came up with a steal and scored to pull away, 11-8. Calle scored the final goal in the closing seconds.
For the game, Travieso led shots-on-goal, 22-12 and throw-ins, 13-7. Tonkawa led knock-ins, 13-1. Each team committed four fouls.
Nero scored a game-high six goals to lead Tonkawa. Weisz had three goals all on penalty conversions and Panelo added two. For Travieso, Zubia and Mannix each had three goals, Calle had two and Vercellino added one.
The much-anticipated WPL Triple Crown of Polo is the fourth and final tournament of the winter season. The WPL, now in its seventh season, continues to make history as the only 26-goal tournament polo played outside of Argentina.
In last year’s Triple Crown of Polo, Park Place (Andrey Borodin, 0, Juan Britos, 9, Hilario Ulloa, 10, Joaquin Panelo, 6) held on for a thrilling 12-11 victory over defending champion and previously undefeated Audi (Marc Ganzi, 1, Nacho Figueras, 5, Jeta Castagnola, 10, Pablo MacDonough, 10). Panelo was MVP.
The coveted Triple Crown of Polo trophy is comprised of three separate trophies that fit perfectly together to create an entire polo scene that is breathtaking in sterling silver.
The WPL tournament winners will be inscribed on the trophy and added to an impressive list of teams that feature several top players including Sebastian Merlos, Mike Azzaro, Tommy Biddle, Adam Snow, Nic Roldan, Matias Magrini, Jeff Hall, Mariano Gonzalez, Michel Dorignac, Kris Kampsen, Gringo Colombres and Jeta Castagnola.