Piaget’s Piki Alberdi (3) follows the ball with Casablanca’s Jeff Hall (2) and Brandon Phillips (4) and Piaget’s Juan Bollini (4) and Melissa Ganzi (1) chasing Alberdi. Photos by Scott Fisher.
WELLINGTON, FL – Nov. 7, 2013 — Audi will defend its title against Casablanca on Saturday in the championship final of the USPA North America Cup presented by Beluga at Grand Champions Polo Club.
Audi, led by Nic Roldan’s game-high eight goals, led for most of the game to defeat Berlin Polo, 12-9, in Thursday’s first semifinal game.
In the second semifinal, Casablanca defeated Piaget with a thrilling 15-14 overtime victory. Fifteen-year-old Grant Ganzi, turning in the finest performance of his young career, scored a career-high eight goals including the game-winner at the 7:11 mark.
The championship game is Saturday at 4 p.m. after the Beluga-ELG subsidiary game at 2 p.m.
Casablanca will have its fourth sponsored team in a championship final this season at Grand Champions.
The highly-anticipated Grand Champions 20-goal season continues to live up to expectations with two more exciting games in the books.
It didn’t take long for established Audi teammates Marc Ganzi, Carlitos Gracida and Roldan to make a smooth transition playing with 7-goaler Michel Dorignac who replaced Hall of Famer and former 10-goaler Carlos Gracida, who was competing in Mexico.
Audi had a 1-0 lead by handicap and was tied twice with Berlin Polo before regaining the lead on Roldan’s breakaway from midfield for a goal and 3-2 advantage.
Audi led by three at the half (7-4) and by as many as four goals (9-5) in the fourth chukker before Berlin Polo held them scoreless in the fifth chukker and came within one goal twice in the sixth chukker. Roldan’s two goals in the final two minutes put the game away.
Marc Ganzi scored Audi’s three other goals. For Berlin Polo, Jeff Blake led scoring with four goals, Sugar Erskine and Hector Galindo each had two goals and Moritz Gaedeke added one.
“There were a lot of times we were a little too optimistic,” Roldan said. “I think we tried to play a little more conservative. We were rushing ourselves heading to goal and struggled a little bit on defense but we picked it up in the end.
“We told ourselves just to relax a little bit more and it worked out,” said the 8-goaler. “We stuck to our game and that was it; that’s our strategy. We didn’t think about the way they came back and won against ELG. We just kept pushing. We knew they were a strong team and at some point would come back, but the idea was to stay focused on our own game.”
Roldan said Dorignac “jelled from the beginning” with the team. “That was nice,” Roldan said. “The chemistry was good. I have played with Michel before and he’s obviously a great player especially at back. Marc played great; Carlitos was amazing. As a team, we all just played well.”
Dorignac found out Monday that he would be playing with the defending champions.
“They had a good team from last year, all really good players, so all I had to do was play as simple polo as I could,” Dorignac said. “It was easy for me to adjust. It was great fun to play with them and great opportunity for me.
“I tried not to look at the score or worry about the team I was playing against. I just cared about our team. We knew they were going to come back at the end and we knew it was going to be tough. Casablanca has been winning everything and will be tough.”
After the semifinal pitted mother against son (Melissa and Grant Ganzi), the championship will pit father against son (Marc and Grant Ganzi).
In the second game, Piaget jumped out to 6-2 and 7-3 leads and led 8-5 at the half before Casablanca started to reel them in late in the four chukker, with Jeff Hall sparking the rally and Ganzi breaking loose and scoring at will with great passes from Azzaro and Brandon Phillips, including the game-winner assist.
With nine seconds left in regulation, Azzaro scored the tying goal to send the game into overtime and set up Ganzi’s heroics.
Azzaro scored four goals and Jeff Hall added three. For Piaget, Tommy Biddle had a game-high nine goals including three on penalty shots. Piki Alberdi added two and Juan Bollini and Melissa Ganzi each had one goal.
Grant Ganzi, a sophomore at St. Andrew’s School in Boca Raton, was recently named Casablanca MVP Amateur in PoloLine based on his fall season results at Grand Champions.
The three-day, six-team USPA North America Cup presented by Beluga is the first of two 20-goal fall tournaments at Grand Champions. The other 20-goal tournament is the 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.
On Saturday Beluga Noble Russian Vodka and caviar will be served in the Beluga VIP tent during the post-tournament party.
Beluga Noble Vodka is produced in the heart of Siberia, one of the most ecologically clean in Russia.
Beluga Noble is refined in every way. Thanks to its unique production technology, including both innovations and centuries-old traditions, the flavor of Beluga Noble has an irreproducible smoothness.
All the ingredients of Beluga Noble pass through a strict system of purification and filtration, which guarantees the maximum level of purity and quality in the final product. Beluga Noble “rests” for 30 days.
The refined design of the bottle with hand-made elements perfectly reflects the nobility of Beluga Noble. On every one of the bottles there is one important feature, a small Beluga fish, traditionally fitted by hand, making every bottle unique.
GRAND CHAMPIONS FALL SCHEDULE
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