Lucchese vs. Valiente II/Tonkawa

01/25/2012, 12:00 pm | IC West

Lucchese - 16, Valiente II/Tonkawa - 11

Riding onto the field with the tournament’s newest 10-goal player, David “Pelon” Stirling (the Handicap Committee of the United States Polo Association just elevated Stirling to the revered highest handicap in the game), Lucchese ran up a 10-5 halftime score before rolling over Valiente II, 16-10 to capture its bracket of play and qualify to enter Sunday’s finals against Coca-Cola.

In a game that started slowly, Valiente II’s Nacho Astrada scored the first goal of the game on a penalty conversion. Stirling responded with a Lucchese penalty goal just a few moments later. With no further scoring, a choppy first chukker ended in a 1-1 tie.

Lucchese and Valiente II battled through a hard-riding, fast-paced second chukker that saw Valiente II take the early lead, 2-1, on another penalty goal from Astrada. Stirling tied it up at 2-2 on a penalty conversion, and from that point on, Lucchese would never trail.

Lucchese team captain John Muse scored from the field for a 3-2 lead followed by another penalty goal from Stirling, 4-2. Astrada roared back with a goal from the field to trail 4-3, and Toto Collardin tied it up at 4-4. Stirling gave Lucchese the lead at the end of the period with is fourth penalty goal of the short-lived match.

Stirling extended the Lucchese lead to two goals in the third with an opening penalty conversion for a 6-4 advantage. Bob Jornayvaz broke loose for a goal in the third before Lucchese took control of the game. Stirling scored four times and Santi Torres added a goal from the field as Lucchese rode off with a 10-5 advantage.

Toto Collardin scored the opening goal of the second half from the field followed by a single penalty goal from Stirling, With two chukkers left to play, Lucchese held a five goal 11-6 lead.

Stirling converted another penalty shot for a goal and Torres a pair of scores in the fifth while Astrada converted two penalty goals and Julio Gracida tallied his first mark of the day. Lucchese continued to control the game as they carried a 14-9 lead into the final chukker of play.

Astrada scored his sixth goal of the game for Valiente II, but Stirling converted added another penalty and Torres followed up with a goal from the field for the 16-10 final.

Stirling led all scoring with eleven goals. Torres scored four times and Muse added a goal for the win.

Astrada registered six goals for Valiente II. Collardin scored twice and Jornayvaz and Gracida added single goals.