NEWS

Story courtesy of International Polo Club Palm Beach.

Resuming bracket play in the USPA Gold Cup® hosted by International Polo Club Palm Beach (IPC) in Wellington, Florida, Cessna (Will Johnston, Raul "Gringo" Colombres, Miguel Novillo Astrada, Edward "Camp" Campbell) and Pilot (Curtis Pilot, Mackenzie Weisz, Matias Torres Zavaleta, Facundo Pieres) began the Wednesday, March 9, doubleheader at La Indiana with 10-goaler Pieres accounting for a staggering thirteen goals in Pilot’s commanding 15-7 win.

Shifting the action to Field 3 at IPC, Poroto Cambiaso led his team with a phenomenal twelve goal performance to deliver Scone (David Paradise, Kristos "Keko" Magrini*, Adolfo Cambiaso) a 17-7 victory over CK Shack (Henry Porter, Martin "Facha" Valent, Santiago Toccalino, Kris Kampsen) to remain undefeated in the tournament.

Kickstarting action at La Indiana for the first match-up of the day and bidding for top seeding in Bracket I, Cessna began the match with one goal on handicap, but early foul troubles proved detrimental. Leading Pilot with thirty-five goals in the GAUNTLET, team captain Pieres found his shooting rhythm early on three successful conversions.

Despite their fouling challenges, Cessna found space in the open field, with Astrada and Johnston combining for three goals to keep the game tied 3-all. Following a Penalty 4 conversion from Weisz, Pilot dominated the second and third chukkers, scoring five unanswered goals, including three more from Pieres to give Pilot an 8-4 lead at the break.

Unrelenting and seemingly unstoppable, an energized Pieres hit his third Penalty 3, while immediately matching his penalty conversion total with his third from the field. Attempting to recreate their offensive output from the first chukker, a driving Campbell managed to draw a Penalty 1 to kick-start another successful run from Astrada, cutting Cessna’s deficit to four. Committing twelve fouls while only converting once on eight attempts of their own, Cessna’s inability to halt the movement of Pieres cumulated in another five goals, including his second successful booming Penalty 4 from the 60-yard line.

Breaking through Pilot’s defensive wall in the latter stages of the final chukker, Campbell escorted the ball across the line for Cessna’s seventh goal of the match, but the accuracy from Pieres at the line and power from the field was no match for Cessna, as his thirteen goals carried Pilot to the 15-7 victory.

Returning to Field 3 at IPC, the second game was defined by penalties with fourteen combined penalty goals between the two teams, with Scone’s Poroto Cambiaso and CK Kris Kampsen trading back-to-back goals to initiate the scoring. Emerging for CK Shack, Toccalino scored two goals in the early stages of the game, but foul troubles soon appeared for CK Shack, as a reenergized Scone wasted no time generating success from the line with Poroto Cambiaso easily converting seven penalty goals in the first half alone.

Coming off an impressive nine goal effort in Scone’s previous victory against La Fe, Poroto Cambiaso set his sights to break his previous scoring tally and overtook Scone’s offensive efforts to account for eight goals, giving Scone a comfortable 9-4 lead at halftime.

Shutting out CK Shack in the fourth chukker, Scone’s successful ball circulation led to a relentless string of four more goals, with Magrini hitting his second on the day, followed by Adolfo Cambiaso getting into the offensive action on a thundering shot from distance to increase Scone’s lead by eight goals. Following Poroto Cambiaso’s fourth goal in open play, Valent finally broke away from Scone’s smothering defensive coverage to score CK Shack’s first goal since the third chukker.

Facing an insurmountable challenge to get themselves back into contention, CK Shack’s Kampsen tapped in two more goals, including a successful Penalty 2, but their inability to generate consistent offensive and repetitive foul troubles left them unable to overcome their staggering deficit. Hitting the mark one last time for Scone, Poroto Cambiaso ended his day shooting 56% from the field, while converting seven of his eight penalty attempts to capture the dominant 17-7 victory.

*Kristos ‘Keko’ Magrini is an Active Team USPA Member. Team USPA is a USPA program designed to enhance and grow the sport of polo in the United States by identifying young, talented American players and providing mentored training and playing opportunities leading to a pool of higher rated amateur and pro players and the resultant giveback to the sport of polo.