Two unbeaten in Barry Cup
Grand Champions, Tonkawa are two of four teams in semis.
WELLINGTON — Grand Champions Polo Club, Tonkawa, Mt. Brilliant and La Indiana have advanced into Wednesday’s semifinals of the Joe Barry Memorial Cup at Intern a t i o n a l Po l o C l u b P a l m Beach.
G r a n d C h a mpi o n s a n d Tonkawa are the only undefeated teams in the eight-team tournament with 3-0 records after bracket play.
Mt. Brilliant and La Indiana were the fifinal teams to qualify in the quarterfifinal round on Sunday.
In the featured game, La Indiana defeated Goose Creek 12-10 at Engel & Volkers Field.
Fo r mer 1 0 - go a l e r Mi ke Azz aro of L a Indiana was named Most Valuable Player. Azzaro scored a team-high seven goals, including five on penalty shots.
Goose Creek’s Mariano Gonzalez scored a game- high eight goals, including six penalty conversions. His son Peke Gonzalez’ fififth- chukker horse, Azucar, was selected Horseware Ireland Best Playing Pony.
Azzaro scored three goals in the sixth chukker on two 30-yard penalty shots and one from the fifield on an incredible 90-degree angled back shot to give his team a 12-9 lead.
The penalty-marred game 33 fouls committed) was close for five chukkers with the lead changing hands 14 times before La Indiana pulled away in the sixth chukker behind Azzaro’s hot hand.
Both teams had problems offffensively from the fifield. La Indiana converted 5 of 14 fifield shots and Goose Creek was 3 of 7.
In the other quarterfifinal, Mt. Brilliant eliminated Postage Stamp Farm, 12- 9. Santi Chavanne and Jason Crowder combined for nine goals with Chavanne scoring a team-high fifive goals.
Mt. Brilliant led 12-6 early in the sixth chukker. Mt. Brilliant converted 10 of 20 fifield shots and was 3 of 3 at the penalty line. Postage Stamp Farm was 4 of 10 from the fifield and 5 of 7 in penalty shots.
A draw will be held today to determine Wednesday’s semififinal matchups at noon and 3 p.m.
The surprise team of the tournament has been Grand Champions Polo Club, making its 20-goal IPC debut this season.
T h e f o u r s o me o f Ma r c G a n z i , Ni c Ro l d a n , I n a k i Laprida and Juancito Bollini earned a berth into the semififinals after defeating Postage Stamp Farm 8-6 on Thursday.
Marc Ganzi substituted for his son, Grant, a freshman at Lynn University, who sat out the game as a prec aution after a riding accident during a Wednesday practice session. Ganzi needed five stitches to close a split lip. He is expected to play Wednesday.
It was Grand Champions’ third victory in eight days. By earning byes in the semis, both Grand Champions and Tonkawa got extra days of rest for their horses.
Grand Champions also got a few more practice sessions for a team that had never played together until this season.
Tonkawa secured a semififinal berth with an 11-7 victory over Villa del Lago Modere, led by 10-goaler Hilario Ulloa. In three games, Tonkawa has three players who have scored more than 10 goals (Sapo Caset, Facundo Obregon and Costi Caset).