Casablanca defends Palm Beach Open title, defeating Travieso in World Polo League action
WELLINGTON — Casablanca defended its title in the World Polo League's Palm Beach Open with an 11-8 victory over Travieso in the championship Sunday at Grand Champions Polo Club.
Casablanca's foursome of Grant Ganzi, Hilario Figueras, Rufino Bensadon and Sapo Caset broke open a close game in the fifth chukker to defeat Travieso (Tony Calle, Tomacho Pieres, Pipe Vercellino, Juan Martin Nero).
For the second game in a row, Caset, 38, swept Most Valuable Player and Best Playing Pony Honors. Caset scored a game-high eight goals. Caset's horse, Bayos Angostura, was the American Polo Horse Association Best Playing Pony.
The game pitted Lynn University alum Grant Ganzi and Tony Calle.
In the most competitive season in the league's six-year history, Casablanca was the third different champion. The other two winners were All-Star Challenge champion Audi and Founders Cup winner Park Place.
'Best year' for World Polo League
"This is the best year of the World Polo League by far and away," said Ganzi, the only returning player off last year's winning Casablanca team. "The majority of the games have been decided by one or two goals. That tells you that the level is great and competitiveness is high.
"A testament to the World Polo League is to how competitive it is, six different finalists for three tournaments is unheard of. That just shows it's competitive as hell. It means a lot to beat all the teams we did. It feels good to win. I am happy we persevered and continued to fight and showed that we could win it all."
In the fast-paced final, the teams were evenly-matched with similar styles of play. It was anybody's game for the first four chukkers with the lead changing hands eight times.
With goals from Bensadon and Pieres, the game was tied 1-1 after the opening chukker. Casablanca took a 3-2 lead in the second chukker with two goals from Caset and one from Ganzi. Nero and Vercellino converted the first of four penalty shots for Travieso's goals.
Travieso outscored Casablanca, 2-1, in the third chukker to go into halftime tied at 5. Travieso had another 2-1 chukker in the fourth for a 7-6 lead.
Casablanca dominated Travieso with three consecutive goals by Caset, including a 126-yarder to open the fifth chukker to give Casablanca a 9-7 lead going into the final chukker. Travieso missed two crucial scoring opportunities midway through the fifth chukker.
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"We played well the entire game," Ganzi said. "We had moments where we had a foul or two that we shouldn't have fouled or a missed goal. Apart from that, I thought we defended really well. They scored half their goals on penalties and that tells you a lot about our defense. It was just a matter of maximizing our goal-scoring opportunities."
Vercellino's 30-yard penalty conversion cut the deficit to 9-8, but Travieso could get no closer with Caset scoring back-to-back goals to finish the game. Casablanca ended up outscoring Travieso, 6-3, in the second half.
"A game like today, there are four guys out there, you try to grab one and work your tail off," Ganzi said.
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In addition to Caset's eight goals, Ganzi, Figueras and Bensadon each had one goal. Vercellino led Travieso with four goals. Pieres and Nero each had two goals.
Casablanca outshot Travieso, 15-12. Travieso led in throw-ins, 12-11. Each team had four knock-ins and eight fouls.
To advance to the final of the 10-team tournament, Travieso knocked off Pilot, 10-8, and Casablanca defeated Audi, 12-7.
The WPL, the winter season's biggest highlight, continues to make history as the only 26-goal polo played outside of Argentina. The Triple Crown of Polo, the fourth and final tournament of the WPL winter season, is currently underway at Grand Champions.