INDIO -- No. 1 Wiley Uretz and the World Gym team overcame True Choice Sunday 7-6 at Empire Polo Club in a finals match won largely on penalty conversions. World Gym’s Antonio Juarez tapped in a short offside for a goal in the third chukker and No. 3 Scott Gundlach converted 6 of 7 penalty attempts in the match to edge True Choice with 30 seconds remaining in the fourth.
Photo From left to right - Antonio Juarez, Scott Gundlach, Mike Uretz, Angel Romero, and Wiley Uretz.
The win clinched Uretz his first World Gym title, and the family’s first World Gym title in 18 years of active sponsorship of the match at Eldorado Polo Club.
“I couldn’t be any happier right now,” Uretz said as his father, Mike Uretz congratulated the team. “I told you that I’d win it for you dad.”
Line and right-of-way fouls plagued True Choice as aggression got the better of a team that played smart, passed well but made mistakes despite a strong offense. No. 3 Joseph Stuart scored three from the field, and two each from No. 2 Ashton Wolf and forward Juan Jose Gonzalez offset the goals given up for fouls. Stuart ended the half 4-3 with a strong offside go-ahead goal, but lost ground to go 5-5 after the third. A clean steal and tap-in by Gonzalez with 1:47 left the clock lifted True Choice back to a tie after a Gundlach conversion in the fourth, but another mistake set Gundlach loose for the last time to score on a penalty two.
World Gym’s Gundlach and No. 2 Angel Romero battled against Wolf and Stuart on offensive drives, but could rarely attempt shots on goal before a whistle was blown. World Gym missed no opportunities at goal from the field.
“Our initial strategy was to let Angel and Antonio mark the pros and let Wiley and I work for the goals,” Gundlach said. “It worked half the time.”
