First Finalists Determined for WPL’s Founder’s Cup

On a rainy Tuesday afternoon, the high goal teams of Grand Champions and Scone were scheduled to lock horns. With great stakes involved, both teams were amped to defeat the other and proceed into the finals of the tournament. The audience was treated to an exciting polo game which remained inconclusive until the latter part of the second half. With Grand Champions already qualified, the other team will be the victor of the Colorado-Valiente semi-final.

The game turned to be the tournament best outing for Grand Champions (Grant Ganzi, 3, Juancito Bollini, 4, Rodrigo Andrade, 9, Juan Martin Nero, 10) in the Founder’s cup. They were able to make a comeback in the latter half and registered a win over Scone (David Paradise/Santino Zedda, 0, Guillermo Terrera, 8, Alejandro Taranco, 8, Pelon Stirling, 10) by 12-9.

GC’s Ganzi and Bollini will experience the first 26-goal tournament final of their young careers.

"We just kept saying, let's go, let's go," Ganzi said. "This game is not going to end in the fourth or the fifth. It's going to end in the last few minutes and that's what happened. We just needed to keep pushing at the end."

The first half of the event turned out to be a comparatively low scoring affair. Scone’s David Paradise had to sit out of the game after suffering a mild concussion as his horse lost footing in the initial part of the 2nd chukker. With Santino Zedda acting as his replacement, the match resumed. GC lagged by 2 goals at the conclusion of the 3rd, with the score being 5-3 in favor of Scone.

The 4th chukker concluded with GC’s Bollini equalizing the score at 7-7. GC really upped their game in the final two chukkers, outscoring Scone 5-2 while rallying their defensive line into much stronger gameplay. They were able to contain the dangerous attacks of the elite Scone trio of Stirling, Taranco, and Terrera who threatened to score from anywhere on the field.

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Bollini was the most instrumental player in Champion’s comeback. He continued his superb scoring spree with back-to-back goals with assists from Andrade for a 9-7 lead in the 5th. Stirling answered back with a 60-yard penalty conversion of his own, but Bollini was able to slip another goal by the end of the chukker to maintain GC’s two-goal lead going into the final chukker.

"We really wanted it," Bollini said. "We came out and refocused ourselves after our last game. We played it chukker by chukker. This is huge for us, it's amazing. This is what we all wanted. This is definitely the best game our team has played. We reached a new peak. Today we really showed what we can do as a team. If we play like we did today, I think we have a pretty good chance in the final."

Stirling lived up to his 10 Goal pedigree, scoring a total of 5 goals in the match and led his team from the front while GC’s attack was more balanced. Andrade led with four goals, Bollini and Nero each had three goals and Ganzi added one.

Stirling volleyed his fifth goal by shooting the ball from the 75-yard mark straight across the goal 4:57 into the final chukker.

"We played so much better in the last three chukkers than the first three," Nero said. "I think the key was Granti and Juancito played amazing. They scored some beautiful goals and we played an open game and that's why we won. We started hitting the ball and that made a difference.
Ganzi, elated from making it into the finals, commented "This is huge to be in the final. This will be my first 26-goal final. I was a little nervous before the game today. I don't know why, the nerves really set in. I think it hit me, this is the semifinal game, I got to come play, this is a whole different level than the 20-goal. I was happy to close out strong and was really happy how the horses went."

Ganzi and his teammates will be in attendance to scout the Valiente-Colorado game on Wednesday.
"They are both really tough teams," Ganzi said. "Whichever one we get we will have to play accordingly."