2012 Club Championships: Friday Open Recap
Gene Buonaccorsi
Posted: October 27, 2012 02:18 AM
For a brief minute, the Sarasota polo fields fell silent as Noelle Price sang the Canadian and American National anthems. The cheers, the nervous shouts of excitement and the pump up playlists tuned out as everyone turned to watch the flag blow in the morning wind. Then, as Price sang "and the rockets red glare", the tranquility was shattered with a cry from the Rhino sideline. It was followed by a shout of "Yeah Boston!" and the open fields again erupted into a flurry of pregame energy as all teams prepared to fight for a spot in Quarterfinals.
The tops seeds shined on this, the second day of the tournament. Ironside and Revolver cruised through both of their games, asserting themselves as forces to be reckoned with in tomorrow’s bracket play. Lower down in power pools Ring of Fire and Johnny Bravo battled for a quarterfinal bid and to avoid a prequarter matchup with Chain Lightning. Ring of Fire showed poise in the wind and handlers Brett Matzuka and Noah Saul anchored them to a win. In the other pool GOAT continued to impress. They’re speedy cutters were almost unstoppable and they beat Rhino, breaking into the pro flight division for the 2013 triple crown.
Today was a day of vengeance for Chain Lightning and Machine, who both played to the top of their elimination pools, advancing to prequarters in the championship bracket. With their seasons on the line, Chain, Machine, Rhino and Johnny Bravo took the fields at 4 oclock. It would have been hard to ask for a more fan friendly game than the Johnny Bravo vs. Chain Lightning matchup. Both teams displayed incredible athleticism early on, with layout grabs and big skies all around. Chain jumped out to an early lead and took half 8-3. They showed passion and energy that was absent from their play yesterday, pulling off a 15-12 victory. On the other field Machine jumped out to an early lead on Rhino and never let up. Machine played like they had nothing to lose, aggresively defending their overall 7 seed and claiming a spot in quarterfinals with a 15-9 victory.
Other observations:
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3 teams from Pool C, Chain Lightning, GOAT and Sockeye advanced to quarterfinals.
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Wind again played a factor as teams like Johnny Bravo and Rhino struggled to score upwind.
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Nick Lance of Chain Lightning played with a broken finger on his throwing hand, extending the trend set by Seth Wiggins of Rhino.
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Both of the teams that played into pre-quarters from the elimination pools (Chain Lightning and Machine) advanced to quarterfinals.
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Ken Porter of Ring of Fire once again showed why he is considered one of the most athletic players in the open division. He made some incredible sky Ds against Johnny Bravo today.