Recap: Elangeni acquires Elegante Polo Fall Plate Cup
The excellent performance of Elangeni Ranch made it possible to win the trophy of Elegante Polo Fall Plate Cup at Grand Polo Club in Wellington, city of Florida. The shining players of Elangeni delivered outstanding performances in the whole tournament and
won all matches. After a hard competition, they succeeded to beat the combative Newport in the final match of the tournament.
Top performer of the match was Kris Kampsen, who scored seven goals and made victory possible for his team. Kris Kampsen’s goal in the last seconds changed the game, Elangeni won the match, and as well the tournament with 9-8 score.
Newport received a handicap goal in second minute of the match, which was added by two other field goals of J J Celis and Stevie Orthwein. However, Kris Kampsen converted a penalty shot into goal to mark first score of his team. Later on Joey Casey accounted
another goal for Elangeni side. The score was 3-2 at the end of first chukker.
Interestingly no goal was scored in second chukker of the match. The duo squads showed stiff defence in this period of the game. Ball moved up and down in the field but remained out of goalposts. Both teams were playing with passion and enthusiasm. One was
trying to level the score while other was attempting to hold the lead. Attacks and counter attacks witnessed in this period but both foursomes could not mark a score.
The defence of the both team also persisted strong in third frame of the game. In the start of the third chukker, Elangeni made various attacks against Newport, which they successfully blocked. However, the fouls from the Newport side gave chances to Elangeni
foursome to up their score. Kris converted two penalty shots into successful goals. Newport’s team captain, Gene Goldstein concluded the first half of the match with a goal on penalty hit, which levelled the score 4-4.
The score of Newport upped with the second goal of Orthwein in fourth chukker. But another foul gave opportunity Kampsen to even the score, which he successfully achieved. Kampsen scored his fourth goal of the game on penalty shot and tied the score at 5-5.
Jerky play and missed hits largely observed in this period of the match. The chukker ended with level score of both squads.
The fifth frame of the game opened with the field goal of Goldstein, which gave one goal lead to Newport. However, this lead prolonged for short time as Kris Kampsen answered with a throw-in goal. In a fantastic effort, J J Celis scored a goal from distance
of 130 yards. The first goal of Coscio of Elangeni side evened it up again at 7-7 before the end of the chukker.
The final chukker was started with crazy efforts of duo squads to take lead in the match. A vast range of attacks from both sides enthralled the viewing audience. After another foul of Newport side, Kris Kampsen scored another goal by successful hitting
his fifth penalty shot of the match. The opponent captain, Goldstein knotted it up once again with third goal of the game and made the match more interesting. Time was running down and it seemed that match would be decided in overtime.
Attacks and counter attacks were underway in the final chukker of the game. Kris Kampsen in last minute carried the ball towards the downfield and hit a long distance shot from 120 yards for successful winning goal of the match. Elangeni Ranch marked their
victory with 9-8 score.
Kris Kampsen was top of the score card with seven impressive goals while Casey and Coscio marked one goal each in the winning side. From the losing side, Captain Goldstein scored three goals while J J Celis and Orthwein accounted two goals apiece. Losing
side, Newport obtained one handicap goal in the match.
‘Slots of Fun’, the horse of Kampsen received best playing pony award while Goldstein received MVP of the tournament.
Tags: