Spindrift defeated La Indiana and La Karina bested White Claw, with the winners to meet in the final.
La Indiana (Michael Bickford, Michael Payne, Nacho Badiola and Tincho Merlos) met Spindrift (John Bickford, Gussie Busch, Jared Zenni and Horacio Heguy) yesterday at Sopris Field.
Spindrift was hot out of the gate in chukker one, with Gussie Busch scoring the first goal on a coast-to-coast run. Horaci Heguy, demonstrated his trademark ability to set up the field, found Jared Zenni in the open, with Zenni knocking in another for Spindrift. In the last 30 seconds of the chukker,
La Indiana got on the board with a goal from Michael Payne. La Indiana couldn’t find the goal in the second chukker, while Jared Zenni scored twice for Spindrift and Gussie Busch knocked in a penalty to end the chukker at 5-1. Tincho Merlos scored on a penalty four, following up with another goal soon after, but Zenni and Bickford brought the score up to 7-3 in favor of Spindrift at the half.
La Indiana came back feeling the pressure in the fourth chukker, with Bickford and Badiola scoring while keeping Spindrift off the goal and eating into their lead. The chukker ended 7-5, and more hard work by La Indiana, with goals by Bickford and Payne, saw the score tied at 7 all until a shot by Heguy put Spindrift back in the lead. Seizing the initiative in the final chukker, Spindrift held off La Indiana’s attempts to score while Jared Zenni found the goal twice. Spindrift won the match by 10-7. Zenni was the high scorer, with a total of 6 goals.
In the second match of the Rocky Mountain Open, La Karina (Brian Boyd, Carlitos Gracida, Juancito Bollini, and Stewart Armstrong) took on White Claw (Lauren Sherry, Vinny Sangaline, Pablo Spinacci, and Nacho Novillo Astrada).
White Claw came out with a strong defense in chukker one, fending off La Karina’s attempts at the goal. Pablo Spinacci put one through the posts for White Claw, and Nacho Novillo Astrada scored on a penalty 3. Chukker two was another story, with La Karina coming back on fire.
Brian Boyd put the first goal on the board for the team in pink, and then Juancito Bollini made a long shot downfield to Boyd, who took it out of the air and slapped it in. With goals by Armstrong and Bollini, the chukker ended 4-2 for La Karina. Carlitos Gracida scored to put La Karina up to 5, while Nacho Novilla Astrada scored on a penalty 2 to end the half at 5-3 with La Karina leading.
In the fourth chukker, La Karina came back hard, with goals by Boyd and Gracida as well as a score on a penalty 3 by Juancito Bollini. White Claw stalled, with La Karina keeping them off the board. The fourth chukker ended with White Claw down 8-3. In the fifth, Nacho Novillo Astrada fought back hard, scoring three goals to bring the score back to striking distance at 6-8, but a goal by Boyd put La Karina up by 6-9 at chukker end. A pair of goals in the sixth by Juancito Bollini took La Karina to 11. Sherry and Sangaline each found the goal to end the match at 11-8 for La Karina. White Claw’s Nacho Novillo Astrada was the high scorer, with 5 goals.
