Loss slips Golden Falcons to 0-2 in the 16-goal league standings. Mansour advances to 2-0.
INDIO – Mansour imposed a virtual no-fly zone over Eldorado Polo Club’s clubhouse field Sunday that grounded the Golden Falcons’ bid for the bronze in this 16-goal tournament.
Enforced by an inside wall of Enrique and Agustin Zavaleta and flanked by Ben Soleimani at the front, Mansour cut a wide path for No. 4, Federico von Wernich, who handily scored seven of Mansour’s nine goals in the match. The Golden Falcons couldn’t penetrate an unflappable and unstoppable Mansour, operating in a zone all their own that kept the Falcons out of the numbers, out of the plays and in a deficit position for six chukkers straight.
Mansour dominated 6-4 after a fluid first half on a strong offense, freeing Von Wernich for two goals from the field and drawing penalties for three conversions.
Von Wernich and Agustin Zavaleta notched a pair of goals to go up 8-4 at the end of the fourth while holding the Falcons’ scoreless before their offensive press suddenly lost momentum. That shift to defense all but stalled Mansour in the last two chukkers, mustering a single penalty conversion off von Wernich’s mallet.
In the fourth, and in Golden Falcons’ territory, Enrique Zavaleta set up a turnover, intercepting Miguel Gutierrez’s penalty five shot to goal. He turned and released a long offside pass downfield. Unchallenged, he made a 100-yard carry toward goal before Falcons’ Hugo Barabucci stopped the drive with a short back shot. Von Wernich got the block, maneuvered around the traffic to shake a pursuing Amin Badr El Din, and swung through a hook to score on a cross-goal neck shot with 4:32 left on the clock.
Agustin Zavaleta necked in a short shot with 2:10 left to play, riding in for the steal off Gutierrez’s back shot near goal. He led an offensive drive to goal on his own knock-in with 1:05 remaining, but his shot on goal took a bad bounce and rolled outside the uprights.
Golden Falcons’ chipped away at the deficit in the fifth, allowing no goals for Mansour and gaining on Barabucci’s field goal and penalty conversion. A red card pulled on an unidentified player with 37 seconds left to play put the Falcons within two on Barabucci’s 60-yard bullet through the posts.
Failure to score on six opportunities in the second half ended hopes for the Falcons. Barabucci’s fifth-chukker offside shot rolled wide. His penalty shot hugged the ground and skipped left. A sure shot went short and was backed out of the goalmouth and in the sixth, a wild shot missed its mark. Marcos Llambias missed the posts under pressure by von Wernich. His shot on goal in the sixth hit a horse’s legs and changed direction.
MANSOUR 9, GOLDEN FALCONS 6
Mansour: Federico Von Wernich 7, Agustin Zavaleta 2, Ben Soleimani, Enrique Zavaleta.
Golden Falcons: Hugo Barabucci 4, Miguel Gueierrez 1, Marcos Llambias 1, Amin Badr El Din.
Diane Hensley can be reached at dkheditor@msn.com.
