INDIO – True Choice showed their resilience Sunday, bouncing back from a disappointing 7-6 loss to World Gym and adding four-goaler Jason Crowder to take Carnation Farms by surprise 8-5 in the four-chukker match.
Photo: Joseph Stuart, Robert Kiger, Ashton Wolf and Jason Crowder.
Joseph Stuart lifted True Choice to a two-goal lead on back-to-back breaks in the first 20 seconds of the match at Empire Polo Club. He cleared the throw-in to catch a ball popped out by teammate Ashton Wolf and pressed toward goal, outrunning Carnation’s Scott Gundlach by a length. A few quick strides and two short offsides sent the ball through the posts. Well-placed after the lineup, Stuart sped downfield to catch a lofty long shot off Crowder’s mallet that dropped 80 yards from goal. He checked his approach, turned and saw no opponents positioned to challenge, wound up and connected with a bullet that flew cleanly past the uprights, the flag man and nearly the bushes bordering the field.
Carnation Farms’ Rob Ballard settled that score with a break off the next lineup, picking off a ball left behind by True Choice’s Bob Kiger. Ballard hit a long offside and rode for the carry as Kiger circled back, but he couldn’t gain on the widening berth that stretched between them. Up 2-1 with 53 seconds remaining, a whistle blew as Carnation Farms’ Ted Okie and Juan Jose Gonzalez jockeyed for the ball. Umpires called a technical foul against Crowder, possibly set off by the call, and a penalty two was awarded for Carnation Farms. Gundlach easily made the conversion for the tie score.
Carnation Farms trailed the rest of the match, unable to rally from a three-goal deficit at the half that grew to an 8-3 rout at the end of the third on Crowder’s accurate 60-yard slammer. Stuart sealed the match on a breakaway late in the third and encored that with an impressive 100-yard offside shot on a turnover that rolled just through the uprights.
Early in the final chukker, umpires called a second technical foul against True Choice after Ballard’s knock-in. A red flag was drawn but not reported. Carnation Farms managed to narrow the lead on Ballard’s penalty three conversion with four minutes left on the clock. Gonzalez cleared the pack, picked up a pass and rode to goal unchallenged before the final horn.
TRUE CHOICE 8, CARNATION FARMS 5
Goals:
True Choice: Joseph Stuart 5, Jason Crowder 2, Ashton Wolf 1, Bob Kiger.
Carnation Farms: Scott Gundlach 2, Rob Ballard 1, Ted Okie, Juan Jose Gonzalez.
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