Casablanca holds on to win US Trust Cup
A well-coordinated Casablanca (Grant Ganzi, Juancito Bollini, Nic Roldan and Wes Finlayson) attack rode out to a 9-3 lead over Postage Stamp Farm (Annabelle Garret, Carlitos Gracida, Brandon Phillips and Guille Aguero) Sunday afternoon in the final of the 2014 US Trust Cup at the Grand Champions Polo Club in Wellington.
Juancito Bollini scored both first chukker goals for Casablanca, one from the field and another on a penalty conversion. Postage Stamp Farm had several shots at goal, but were unable to score and trailed 2-0 after the opening period.
Brandon Phillips converted a 60-yard penalty shot for Postage Stamp Farm cutting the Casablanca lead to a single goal, 2-1, less than a minute into the second chukker. Nic Roldan scored on a 30-yard penalty shot and teammate Wes Finlayson scored at the 5:02 mark. Casablanca rode off the field at the end of the chukker on the winning end of a 4-1 score.
Phillips opened the scoring in the third period, three minutes into play, 4-2. Finlayson responded with consecutive goals to give Casablanca a 6-2 lead. With one minute on the clock, Phillips closed out the chukker with his third goal of the game. At the end of the first half Casablanca continued to lead, 6-3.
Finlayson opened the fourth chukker with a goal from the field followed by a pair of goals from Grant Ganzi (one on a penalty conversion), 9-3. Phillips fought to get his Postage Stamp Farm, scoring the final goal of the chukker with two seconds on the clock, 9-4.
Carlitos Gracida scored the first goal of the fifth, 9-5, but Phillips stole the ball from a Casablanca player deep in their own end and scored Postage Stamp Farm’s sixth goal of the game, 9-6. Grant Ganzi scored with four and-a-half minutes left in the period, 10-6, with what turned out to be the final goal of the chukker.
Finlayson opened the sixth chukker with a goal from the field, 11-6, when Postage Stamp Farm came alive. Two goals from Phillips were followed by a penalty conversion from Garret, 11-9, with three minutes left to play. Guille Aguero scored the final goal with 13 seconds on the game clock as Casablanca celebrated their title win, but it was too late.
Phillips led all scoring with seven goals. Single goals were scored by Garret, Gracida and Aguero. Finlayson scored five times for Casablanca. Grant Ganzi added three goals, and Roldan scored once on a penalty shot for the 11-10 win.
Roldan was named MVP while Halo Polo’s X-Box earned Best Playing Pony honors. X-Box was played by Grant Ganzi in the sixth chukker of the title game.
Flight Options 10, Newport 6
In the subsidiary match that closed out the game, Marc Ganzi scored six goals for the 10-6 win as Flight Options (Melissa Ganzi, Kris Kampsen, Marc Ganzi and Juan Bollini) rolled over Newport (Gene Goldstein, Leo Mandelbaum, Julio Gracida and Roberto Gonzalez) to close out the afternoon tournament play.
Flight Options scored early, with Marc Ganzi scoring the opening goal from the field at 6:16. Newport team captain Gene Goldstein tied it, 1-1, with his first goal of the day. Goals from Marc Ganzi and Melissa Ganzi had Flight Options a 3-1 lead. Leo Mandelbaum scored the final goal of the chukker to trail Casablanca, 3-2.
Marc Ganzi converted a penalty shot, 4-2, but Newport fired right back. Goldstein scored from the field, cutting the lead back to a manageable 4-3.
Both defenses stepped it up in the fifth, turning away attacks and being on the receiving end of a closely-contested march. Melissa Ganzi scored the only goal of the chukker, as Flight Options stretched their lead to two goals, 5-3.
The fourth chukker belonged to Flight Options with Kampsen scoring twice while the Newport team was held scoreless. Flight Options owned a four goal lead, 7-3, with two periods left in regulation play.
Goals were hard to come by in the fifth. Mandelbaum finally scored with 2:03 on the clock and Marc Ganzi tapped one through the goalposts with just 17 seconds left to play. The Flight Options lead held at 8-4 going into the final chukker.
Marc Ganzi added two more goals in the sixth while Newport answered with single goals from Goldstein and Mandelbaum. It was Flight Options celebrating the 10-6 victory.
Marc Ganzi set the pace for the game with six goals. Kampsen and Melissa Ganzi added two goals each in the win. Goldstein and Mandelbaum each scored three times in the loss.
"Polo Club du Domaine de Chantilly" 
Rabii Benadada
