US White Team overcome Blue Team by 7-5 in FIP preparatory competition
In a preparatory game of the FIP (Federation of International Polo) Zone Play-offs, the US White Team defeated the Blue Team (assembled foursome) by two goals, 7-5 at the International Polo Club in Floridian city of Wellington.
US FIP team is preparing itself for Zone-Play-offs which are scheduled to be held in May 2011 in Dominican Republic.
The US White team obtained two goals and took the first lead in the game. In the later time, James Armstrong of the Blue team scored first field goal of the game to bring his team into the score-net. But another White team goal went up on the score-board
from Nick Snow to close out the period with White holding a two-goal, 3-1 advantage.
In the second frame, Carlitos Galindo scored a goal from the field to reduce the lead, but to no avail. Snow scored another goal to regain their two points lead after the second round action. Interestingly, the two teams exchanged one goal in the third chukka
and moved forward in the second half of play. Galindo added another goal for the Blue team and took the lead down to one goal, 4-3. However, the strikers from the US White team were not sitting motionless and watching the game. Snow scored off a 60-yard long
penalty-shot to keep back their two-goals lead at half-time.
At the start of the fourth set of play, Snow connected on another spot-shot and further expanded the lead up to three points. The US FIP team captain, John Gobin, scored the first goal of the day to take an insurmountable lead in the game. On the other side,
Galindo scored a solitary goal for the Blue team to remain in the game. The chukka ended with US White team sitting on top with a convincing three-point edge, 7-4.
Amazingly, the two teams remained off the score-board in the fifth round and failed to break the defence line of either side. Likewise the second last, an end-to-end play was observed in the final period and only one goal was scored from Galindo. The Blue
team lost to White by two points in the preparatory contest.
Charlie Muldoon, the coach of the US FIP Team, however, was not quite satisfied by the performance of the players. He was of the opinion that the boys had really improved their game, but they would have to further step up for the future tasks. Applauding
the role of USPA (United States Polo Association), he said that the association was working hard to organise preparatory matches.
To play against Carlucho Arellano and James Armstrong would definitely play vital role in training of US FIP team, he added.
The US FIP Team will leave for Dominican Republic on May 02, 2011 to partake in the Zone-Playoff competition to finalise the final team for the FIP World Cup.
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