USPA National Twenty goal final

Audi defends USPA National Twenty goal title with 13-7 win

By Alex Webbe

 

Audi (Marc Ganzi, Carlitos Gracida, Nic Roldan and Carlos Gracida) received one goal

by handicap and quickly added to it with Nic Roldan converting a 40-yard penalty shot

and Carlitos Gracida scoring from the field for a 3-0 start. ELG (Avery Chapman, Guille

Aguero, Kris Kampsen and Tommy Biddle) responded with a pair of goals from Guille

Aguero, but trailed 3-2 at the end of the first chukker.

Audi got its attack on line in the second, scoring four times while shutting down the ELG

offense. Single goals from Marc Ganzi (a 40-yard penalty conversion) and Roldan (a

goal from the field) and a pair of goals from polo Hall of Famer, Carlos Gracida, ended

the period with Audi on top, 7-2.

Both defenses buckled down in the third. A single goal from Tommy Biddle was the

only goal scored, and at the end of the first half Audi held a comfortable four goal, 7-3

ELG rallied in the fourth chukker following the award of a goal on a rarely called Penalty

1, 7-4. A 60-yard penalty conversion from Biddle cut the Audi lead to two, 7-5. Roldan

closed out the chukker with a goal from the field with 15 seconds left on the clock, 8-5.

 A fifth chukker Audi blitzkrieg extended their lead to five goals, 11-6, as they picked

up two goals from Roldan and a single goal from the field from Ganzi. ELG’s sole goal

came from Aguero who took a Biddle pass and raced 150 yards down the field for the

Biddle converted a penalty shot for a goal for the first goal of the sixth chukker, 11-7, but

that was where it ended. Ganzi scored his third goal of the day followed by a goal from

Carlitos Gracida for the 13-7 final.

Roldan’s five goals led a balanced Audi attack that saw Ganzi add three goals and two

goals apiece from the father-son combination of Carlos and Carlitos Gracida. Biddle’s

four goals (two on penalty conversions) set the pace for ELG. Aguero scored twice and

the team was awarded a goal on a Penalty 1.

Carlos Gracida received MVP honors while Zulu, a seven-year-old Dark Bay mare was

named Best Playing Pony. It was Zulu’s second such honor this season. The mare

was named BPP earlier this season in the USPA Fall Plates. Zulu is owned by Halo

Polo and was played by Aguero.