World Gym Tournament
December 2 - 10, 2000
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December 2 - 10, 2000
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Copyright 2000 Digital West Media,Inc. dba PoloBARN.com.
By Diane Hensley
INDIO -- Birds of Prey 's Domingo Questel led a relentless offensive against Cassidy West in Eldorado Polo Club's World Gym finals, opening with a first-chukker blitz that all but locked out Cassidy West's flagging hopes for a win on Sunday.
Questel, on assists from Jason Crowder, played the middle while forward Chevas Hosea and Joe Boystack at the back defended, creating the full court press that put seven goals on the books for Questel in the match three in the first four minutes of play.
The textbook strategy confounded Cassidy West early in the first chukker as Questel outrode Cassidy's No. 2 Agustin Lugarte, circling and speeding away from the rideoffs and foiling his hook attempts by timing his swing. Questel got a breakaway riding 160 yards to goal to score off an error by Cassidy's Linda Gallaher who sent a 45-yard shot toward the wrong goal. Crowder picked up a ball backed into traffic by Cassidy West patron Tom Cassidy, and raced to goal undefended to go up 4-0.
Two minutes before the horn, Lugarte converted a penalty four and team captain Caroline Anier scored off a steal at midfield to end the chukker at 4-2. Birds of Prey held Cassidy West scoreless in the second as Questel converted a penalty and avoided Anier's push on defense to hit a cross-goal flyer through the posts. Cassidy West loped back to their trailers with a four-goal deficit at the half.
"We tried to control the ball and we did. We tried to control the throw-ins and we did that. Then, we got the ball and ran with it," Questel said.
Cassidy West changed formation in the second half, putting Cassidy at the front and Gallaher at the back which yielded some success and enabled the team to creep ahead, patron Tom Cassidy said. Still, after the third chukker, Cassidy headed off the field down 8-4.
"We fell asleep in the fourth," Hosea said. "After that wake-up call in the third when they changed things around."