The final match-up of the 12- goal tournament hosted at the Eldorado Polo Club was filled with ups and downs but Antelope Jr.’s team (Grant Palmer 0, Felipe Vercellino 6, Jose Ignacio Martinez 3T, Peter Blake 3) ultimately succeeded in getting the better of their opponents bensoleimani.com (Ben Soleimani 0, Santiago Von Wernich 5, Tomy Alberdi* 4, Joseph Stuart 3). The score after 6 chukkers was 11-9 with Antelope sealing the lead with a 2 goal margin.
The tournament winners had a mixed campaign in the bracket’s, starting off with 4 consecutive victories but also getting defeated twice before the final fixture. Bensoleimani.com’s experience in the tournament was opposite to Antelope but gradually they developed a strong streak of performances.
They were even able to defeat their final’s opponents during a league match-up.
The game kicked off with both the teams aggressively tussling for possession in the 1st. The action, although quick paced, didn’t result in a lot of goals for either of the teams and the chukker ended with 2-1 in favor of soleimani.com.
2nd chukker saw similar gameplay to the first but exceeded it in the total number of fouls committed.
Bensoleimani.com’s Von Wernich scored the only goal of the chukker. They further extended this lead in the third chukker when Soleimani and Alberdi scored consecutive goals. But, Antelope Jr.’s Martinez and Vercellino replied back with two goals to conclude the gameplay of the first half at 6-3 in favor of Bensoleimani.com.
Antelope’s continued the momentum that they had developed in the latter part of the 1st half into the 4th chukker. Vercellino, scoring off the 30-yard and 40-yard penalty lines, chopped Bensoleimani.com’s lead to 1.
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Stuart then converted a 30-yard penalty of his own to finish the chukker with 7-5. Antelope Jr. was finally able to seize the lead for the first time in the match in the 5th chukker with Martinez scoring twice from the field, Vercellino scoring his 4th penalty goal and a field goal. Antelope Jr. was leading with 9-8 going into the final chukker of the match.
A back-and-forth battle ensued in the final chukker. First, Vercellino bettered Antelope Jr.’s lead by converting another 30-yard penalty in the early stage of the 6th. Alberdi countered it with a goal of his own to again narrow the gap to just one 10-9. Continued pressure from the Antelope Jr. team led to Vercellino’s second Penalty 4 conversion of the afternoon, ensuring the win 11–9.
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