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INDIO -- No. 3 Ernie Ezcurra powered PoloBarn.com past Empire Sunday 8-6, punching in three goals from the field and converting three penalties to hand Empire their third straight finals loss in the four-goal six-chukker league.
“We started slow, and we got stronger in the second half. It was a close game, but we played okay,” Ezcurra said after the match.
PoloBARN.com turned a two-goal deficit in the first two chukkers into a one-goal lead at the half on a third-chukker advance that shut down Empire scoring.
"I'm really excited that PoloBARN.com won the tournament." said Lynn Bremner. "Jay and Tania Paneno, Henry Randazzo, Caroline Anier and Ernie Ezcurra played really well together. I want to thank them all for playing as the PoloBARN.com team. It was fun being involved in their victory."
No. 3 Lolo Payan started the third with a full field press on a knock-in and timed carefully under pressure by Ezcurra, connected with No. 1 Rob Scapa for the carry. Scapa picked up the offside and sent the ball 50 yards to goal from the sideline. His tap-in missed its target under hazing by PoloBARN.com’s Caroline Anier.
A foul during PoloBARN.com’s advance to goal opened the door for Anier’s penalty conversion which brought the team to within one.
Payan hit a knock-in after PoloBARN.com’s errant shot on goal and was fouled. His penalty shot strayed off course with 3:34 left to play. Ezcurra got the knock in, passed it to Anier, and before Empire’s Al Haagen III could extend for the hook, the ball skidded through the posts.
Tied at 4-4 with 1:33 left on the clock, Ezcurra missed a conversion opportunity and Payan took the knock-in. Anier backed the ball. Payan turned on it and released a long shot. Ezcurra rode in for the steal and sent a well-placed back shot to teammate Vicky Owens. Hooked off the shot by Scapa, Ezcurra rode in and swept up the ball for the go-ahead goal.
Payan managed just two penalty conversions for Empire in the fourth and sixth.
PoloBarn.com gained a two-goal advantage in the fifth on back-to-back goals from the field by Ezcurra while his teammates defended to keep Empire scoreless. Tied at five apiece at the top of the fifth, Ezcurra put a score on the board off the throw-in within 34 seconds. A high flying ball rocketed 80 yards through the posts. He encored that shot with a face-off play against Payan, riding toward his knock-in and making an easy short shot to goal.
“We put Henry (Randazzo) on Lolo and we let Caroline play close to the back,” Ezcurra said. “And we got lucky on my penalty shots.”
Empire Polo Club owner and patron Alexander Haagen III, who isn’t accustomed to anything second-best, was left feeling a bit like Felix Monserrate after the match, owner and trainer of the famously losing thoroughbred Zippy Chippy. He said in 2004 after his horse’s 100th loss that if Seabiscuit’s people had pulled their awkward young colt off the track after a few bad runs, racing wouldn’t have seen one of its greatest champions.
Haagen, like Monserrate, looked to rebounding and the opportunities ahead.
“We all have a good time out here, and we’ll try it again next time.”
Scapa agreed, reflecting on the team’s performance.
“We should have beat the pants off them,” he said.
POLOBARN.COM 8, EMPIRE 6
GOALS:
POLOBARN.COM: Ernie Ezcurra 6, Caroline Anier 2, Tania Paneno/Vicky Owens, Henry Randazzo.
EMPIRE: Lolo Payan 5, Nicolai Galindo, Al Haagen, Rob Scapa, 1 by handicap.Umpires: Tim Rudy, Fergus Gould, 3rd Man Diego Cossio.
Diane Hensley may be reached at dkheditor@msn.com
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