Altair vs. Faraway Polo

02/19/2012, 10:00 am | Everglades

Altair - 13, Faraway Polo - 7

With the final week of play approaching, Altair and Mt. Brilliant made runs to secure berths in the tournament finals. Altair put together a 13-11 effort over Faraway while Mt. Brilliant scored its third straight win at the expense of Villa Del Lago.
Led by eight goals from Carlitos Gracida, Altair built up an 8-5 halftime lead before registering a 13-11 win over a talented Faraway foursome in the 14-goal Freebooters Classic at the International Polo Club in Wellington Sunday morning.
Carlitos Gracida scored the first two goals of the game, followed by a goal from his father, Carlos Gracida. Team captain Hutton Goodman responded with a goal for his Faraway team, but Guillermo Steta ended the chukker with his first goal of the game and a 4-1 Altair lead.
Carlitos added a penalty goal in the second before Faraway answered with goals from Juan Valerdi and Tomas Obregon (penalty goal). Altair continued to lead, 5-3.
Carlitos Gracida added two more goals in the third (one from the field and one on a penalty shot) and Carlos Gracida added a goal while Faraway responded with goals from Julian Daniels and Obregon (penalty conversion). At the end of the first three chukkers of play, Altair led by three goals, 8-5.
Faraway stormed back into the game in the second half, scoring three unanswered goals in the fourth chukker to tie it up at 8-8. Goodman scored once and Obregon accounted for the other two goals while the Altair attack was silenced for the first time all day.
Altair took back control of the contest in the fifth, with Carlitos adding two more goals to the pot and Julio Gracida converting a penalty shot for a goal. Faraway managed a single penalty goal from Obregon and trailed 11-9 with one chukker left to play.
Valerdi opened the scoring in the final chukker with a goal from the field, but Altair responded with single goals from Carlitos Gracida and Carlos Gracida. Valerdi scored the final goal of the game, but it wasn’t enough. Altair rode off the field with the 13-11 victory.
Carlitos Gracida led all scoring with eight goals. Carlos Gracida scored three times with Guillermo Steta and Julio Gracida adding single goals in the win.
Obregon set the pace for Faraway with five goals. Valerdi scored three times; Goodman added two goals and Daniels scored once.