Audi’s Juan Bollini (3) defends Guille Aguero (2) of Palm House as he hits the ball. Photos by Scott Fisher.
WELLINGTON, FL – Oct. 27, 2013 — Palm House won its first tournament of the fall season Sunday at Grand Champions Polo Club.
Trailing by two goals in the sixth chukker, Juancito Bollini scored the tying goal at the 2:07 mark and a minute later Guille Aguero scored the winning goal to give Palm House a thrilling come-from-behind 11-10 victory over Audi.
Aguero, 36, of Wellington, was named Most Valuable Player for the second time this season. Aguero was also MVP of the USPA Fall Classic as a member of the Newport team that lost to Audi, 12-11.
“Can you believe it? Another MVP,” Aguero said with a smile. “I have been playing with Kris Kampsen for a few years so when he hit me that great pass I knew I had to score, I couldn’t miss it.
“Today was a great game, everyone had a great time,” Aguero said. “Everything went great. I love it over here at Grand Champions. This is my first time here.”
Aguero and Bollini each scored four goals. Teammate Kris Kampsen added two goals on penalty shots and Glenn Straub returned to the lineup for the final and scored on a penalty shot.
Audi (Melissa Ganzi, Kaisser Maakar, Luis Escobar and Juan Bollini), which picked up two goals by handicap, was led by Escobar with five goals. Bollini added two goals and Maakar scored one goal on a penalty shot.
Palm House won two round-robin games, defeating ELG, 5-3, and Casablanca, 4-2, to advance into the final.
It was the third championship finals appearance by Bollini, 17, a freshman at Florida Atlantic University. Bollini has now won three tournaments including two with Casablanca.
The final was also the last game Kampsen played as a bachelor. On Saturday, he will marry longtime love Ali Solimine in a lavish ceremony at The Breakers in Palm Beach.
“I was really happy actually with the team’s comeback,” said Kampsen, whose team trailed at the half, 6-4. “When Guille scored that goal it was icing on the cake.
“Bollini and Melissa are super competitive and do really well. They had a two-goal lead by handicap and came out firing and before we knew it we were down 4-1. We had to come back from there.
“We missed a few goals in the beginning and didn’t have our confidence up. I didn’t have confidence running with the ball today. I kept missing everywhere. It must be those nervous wedding jitters.”
With Palm House trailing Audi, Aguero remained a picture of composure.
“I just told the guys to relax, that we could come back and we did great,” Aguero said. “I like this team but I like to play with anybody. This is giving me energy. I am ready for 20-goal.”
Best Playing Pony went to Zulu, a seven-year-old dark bay mare owned by Melissa Ganzi and Halo Polo and played by Aguero.
“There was a lot of talent out there and a lot of different momentum shifts,” Ganzi said. “Guille and Kris have been playing together in Connecticut. They have a long history of playing together. It was a nice competitive game. There were several lead changes and it could have gone either way and that was the fun of it.”
Palm House sponsor Glenn Straub was honored during the awards ceremony and presented a coffee table polo book, POLOSTARS by Melinda Brewer, who is currently working on a Grand Champions book for trophy awards.
Grand Champion officials Dale Schwetz and Horton Schwartz, two of the USPA’s top officials, were also honored.
In the USPA Fall Plates Subsidiary Cup game, ELG’s (Equine Law Group) Avery Chapman scored the winning goal for a 4-3 victory over Casablanca to clinch the title. ELG had also defeated Beluga, 6-5, and Casablanca edged Beluga, 7-6.
In the first game, Nic Roldan had three goals and Chapman added two for ELG and Misha Rodzianko scored three for Beluga. In the second game, 18-year-old Wes Finlayson led Casablanca with three goals and Mike Azzaro added two. Joey Casey had three goals for Beluga. In the third game, all four ELG players scored and Finlayson had two more goals for Casablanca.
The USPA Fall Plates Tournament is the fifth medium-goal tournament of the fall season which has been the most competitive in Grand Champions’ seven-year history. Casablanca has won two tournaments; Paladin, Audi and Palm House have each captured one tournament title.
Two 20-goal tournaments are scheduled for November and will be held simultaneously with two medium-goal tournaments.
The two 20-goal tournaments are the Nov. 5-9 USPA Beluga North America Cup and Nov.13-24 USPA National 20-Goal Championship.
During the 2012 fall season, Audi dominated the season winning back-to-back USPA North America Cup and USPA National 20-Goal Tournament titles with Marc Ganzi, Carlitos Gracida, Nic Roldan and Carlos Gracida. In the national 20-goal final, Audi edged Piaget, 10-9.
All tournaments are USPA-sanctioned and have grown in stature since their start in the mid-1990s.
GRAND CHAMPIONS FALL SCHEDULE
Oct. 30 – Nov. 3, Pedro Morrison Memorial
Nov. 5-9, USPA Beluga North America Cup
Nov. 8-10, Palm Restaurant Invitational
Nov. 13-24, The National 20-Goal Championship
Nov. 30, International Cup, Team USA vs. Chile
GRAND CHAMPIONS POLO CLUB
WHERE: 13444 Southfields Road, on the corner of South Shore Boulevard and Lake Worth Road, Wellington, 561-644-5050.
INFORMATION: There are great field side views for tournament action at the home base of pro teams Audi and Piaget. Everyone is welcome to watch high and medium goal polo in a relaxed atmosphere during the spring and fall tournament season and other special events including the International Cup in November, Buzz Welker Memorial Junior Tournament in March, Women’s Championship Tournament and Gay Polo League International Tournament, both in April.
Sharon Robb for Phelps Media Group, Inc. International
MEDIA CONTACT:
Phelps Media Group, Inc.
12012 South Shore Blvd #105
Wellington, FL 33414
561-753-3389 (phone)
561-753-3386 (fax)
pmginfo@phelpsmediagroup.com
PhelpsMediaGroup.com
