Heathcote Opens Hampton Cup with a Win

Written By Alex Webbe Photography By Alex Pacheco

Photo credit-Alex Pacheco

Heathcote opened competition in the 2011 Hampton Cup with an exciting 11-10 come-from-behind win over a tough Circa  foursome at the Bridgehampton Polo Club Friday afternoon.

Heathcote received two goals by handicap from the 19-goal circa team but couldn’t muster any offense in the opening chukker as they watched Circa score three unanswered goals. Martin Pepa opened the game with a goal from the field followed by a goal from teammate Guille Aguero. Pepa added a penalty goal to end the first period with circa holding a 3-2 advantage.

Heathcote managed to get its act together in the second, on both offense and defense. Heathcote tied the game on a penalty goal from Tommy Biddle and took a 4-3 lead on a goal from the field from Naco Taverna. Circa was unable to score and left the field at the end of the chukker trailing by a single goal.

Nothing but penalty goals in the third, with Magoo Laprida scoring the opener to tie it at 4-4, but consecutive penalty goals from Biddle had Heathcote ahead 6-5 at the end of the first half.

With the substitution of 1-goaler Larry Austin for Heathcote team captain Steve Lefkowitz (0) in the fourth chukker, Heathcote had to surrender one of its handicap goals, and instead of holding a 6-4 lead, were forced to defend a one goal 5-4 edge.

Psychological edge or just the adjustment of a new player into the lineup Circa came alive. Laprida’s second goal of the game tied it up at 5-5 followed by two straight goals from Pepa. Heathcote was unable to score and found themselves trailing by two goals at the end of the fourth chukker, 7-5.

Laprida scored the first goal of the chukker for the second straight time for a three goal advantage when Heathcote battled back. A 60-yard penalty goal from Biddle was followed by a goal from the field from Taverna, cutting the Circa lead to a single goal, 8-7. Circa team captain Chris Del Gatto scored his first goal of the game for an 8-7 lead, but another penalty goal from Biddle ended the fifth chukker with Heathcote trailing by a single goal, 9-8.

Another 60-yard penalty conversion from Biddle tied it up, 9-9, in the opening minutes of the sixth chukker when Pepa gave Circa the lead one last time with his fifth goal of the day. Biddle hammered a penalty shot down the field to streaking teammate Nick Manifold who scored on a well-executed shot to even it at 10-10. Moments later Heathcote received its second opportunity of the match when Biddle tapped a penalty shot once before blasting it through the goal posts for the 11-10 win.

Biddle led all scoring with seven goals. Taverna added two goals to the Heathcote total and Manifold scored once in the win.

Pepa scored five goals for Circa. Laprida accounted for three goals and Aguero and Del Gatto added single goals in the loss.

“It’s (Heathcote) a great team,” said Biddle after the game. “There’s just no quit on this team. “We fell behind early but just kept at it and got ourselves right back into the game. This is a very special group.”

Hampton Cup play continues on Saturday with a scheduled 4pm match between KIG and Equuleus.

 

Photo credit-Alex Pacheco

Photo credit-Alex Pacheco

Photo credit-Alex Pacheco