Jan Pamela-Little Owl edge past Willow Blanco to clinch Jan Pamela Challenge – US Polo Update
Jan Pamela-Little Owl after contesting a nail-biting competition against Willow-Blanco succeeded to clinch the title of the Jan Pamela Challenge, held at the field of International Polo Club, Wellington. The six-chukka action turned out to be a barn-burner
match, as it filled joy among the players and fans of Jan Pamela after it won the finals and as the well the tournament.
Jan Pamela obtained one score by handicap followed by a single goal from Joe Wayne Barry and put opponent team under severe pressure. In the later time, Steve Dalton of Jan Pamela and Tom Skies of Willow Blanco exchanged a couple of goals and went into second
round with Jan Pamela holding a commanding three-goal, 4-1, advantage.
Both teams swapped one goal each in the seven and half minute action, as the score was 5-2 after the second set of play. Dalton scored the solitary goal for Jan Pamela while Brandon Phillips converted a penalty shot for Willow-Blanco before going into the
next frame.
Phillips scored off another pair of penalty shots, cut the lead down to one goal, and made the game more interesting. But a penalty conversion from Dalton again increased Jan Pamela’s lead to two goals. After the first half action, Willow-Blanco was trailing
6-4.
The second half game was opened with a penalty conversion from Dalton, but the remaining offence belonged to opposite team. Jeff Blake scored three goals of which two were taken on a penalty shot while other form the field and tied the knots at seven-all.
Another Willow-Blanco goal went up on the scoreboard from Phillips to end the chukker with holding a narrow one-goal lead, 8-7.
The second last chukker belonged to Willow, as it obtained one goal while holding Jan Pamela scoreless in the period. Blake converted a 60-yard penalty shot and doubled the lead, 9-7.
The final set of play was quite hard hitting, as Jan Pamela got five goals while limiting the strike of Willow-Blanco for three goals.
Barry notched a couple of goals from the field while his team-mate Dalton scored off two penalty shots and extended the lead to two goals. The strikers of Jan Pamela showed the most aggressive game of the tournament in the final chukker and ruined the defence
line of Willow-Blanco. Dalton scored another goal in the later time and expanded the lead to three goals.
However, the attackers of Willow were not sitting inactively. Phillips scored three unanswered goals in the last minutes of the regulation time period and had it all even at 12-all. The score remained equal until the final horn was blown and both teams went
into the sudden death over-time with a 12-12 score.
One minute into over-time, Willow-Blanco committed a foul and awarded Jan Pamela a chance to mark go-ahead goal, which they did not miss. Dalton scored off the penalty shot and sealed the victory at 13-12.
Steve Dalton of Jan Pamela was highest scorer of the match with nine goals while Brandon Phillips notched seven points for Willow-Blanco. He earned the Most Valuable Player award of the tournament while Phillips’s nine-year old horse named Aruba was chosen
as Best Playing Pony.
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