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Crab
Orchard Moves on to Quarterfinal in
Stanford U.S. Open Polo Championship
April 5, 2008
WELLINGTON, FL –Last year’s Stanford U.S.
Open Polo champion Crab Orchard moved a step
closer to repeating today by defeating Black
Watch 12-11 at International Polo Club Palm
Beach. Other action saw Audi trounce Orchard
hill 17-11 to continue its quest for their
first U.S. Open title.
Black watch had a tough time in the first
half as Crab Orchard was able to score at
will while mounting an 8-3 lead. Early in
the fourth chukker Matias MacDonough of
Black Watch pulled a muscle and was replaced
by Mariano Gonzalez. The delay and line-up
change seemed to renew Black Watch as they
scored three goals in the chukker to come
within three 9-6. Crab Orchard Captain,
George Rawlings, said, “When a substitute
comes in they are usually fired up. During
the injury delay which was just after the
halftime break we became a little soft and
lost some energy.” In the fifth, Black Watch
closed the gap to one as they went on a 3-1
run. Rawlings added, “Defensively I thought
we had them and on offense we knew we could
score quick if they caught us.” In the final
chukker Crab orchard scored twice on goals
by Jeff Blake and Adolfo Cambiaso to go up
12-9 before Nacho Figueras and Pablo
MacDonough of Black Watch again brought
their team to within one 12-11. But with
only :30 seconds remaining were unable to
capitalize again.
Crab Orchard moves on to the quarterfinals
next week and Black Watch will play another
elimination game against a third place
finisher in the other brackets.
Audi came out with a new run and gun attack
and a revamped line-up as they surprised a
listless Orchard Hill team. Juan Bolini was
called out to a family emergency and
Santiago Chavanne an 8T rated player moved
into the number two position and Paco de
Narvaez moved back to defense. It all paid
off as Gonzalito Pieres playing in the
attack position scored 12 times and Chavanne
added the other five. Pieres said, “Santiago
is quick. All I had to do was pass the ball
to him and he was able to do the rest.” Audi
led by as many as seven before settling for
the six goal margin 17-11. Jeff Hall of
Orchard Hill led his team with seven goals.
Audi moves on to the next round and Orchard
Hill moves into the subsidiary Hall of Fame
Cup.
Stanford U.S. Polo Championship action will
continue Sunday, April 6 with two games from
bracket III. At noon 2006 winner Las
Monjitas will face 2005 winner White Birch.
The 3:00 pm Stanford Field and Stadium game
is between Pony Express and Lechuza Caracas.
The winner of this game goes on the loser
goes to the subsidiary Hall of Fame Cup. .
International Polo Club Palm Beach is
located at 3667 120th Avenue South in
Wellington and hosts professional polo
tournaments until the finals of the Stanford
U.S. Open Polo Championship, Sunday, April
20. Information can be obtained by calling
561-204-5687 or the Polo Hotline for game
updates at 561-282-5290. Web address,
www.internationalpoloclub.com or
www.northamericanpololeague.com.
CRAB ORCHARD 3-4-1-1-4-2=12 (3 penalty
goals) Jeff Blake, Adolfo Cambiaso 5
BLACK WATCH 0-2-1-3-3-2=11 (2 penalty goals)
Pablo MacDonough 5
AUDI 3-3-3-4-3-1=17 (5 penalty goals)
Gonzalito Pieres 12
ORCHARD HILL 1-1-4-0-3-2=11 (5 penalty
goals) Jeff Hall 7
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