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Crab Orchard Moves on to Quarterfinal in
Stanford U.S. Open Polo Championship

April 5, 2008

WELLINGTON, FL –Last year’s Stanford U.S. Open Polo champion Crab Orchard moved a step closer to repeating today by defeating Black Watch 12-11 at International Polo Club Palm Beach. Other action saw Audi trounce Orchard hill 17-11 to continue its quest for their first U.S. Open title.

Black watch had a tough time in the first half as Crab Orchard was able to score at will while mounting an 8-3 lead. Early in the fourth chukker Matias MacDonough of Black Watch pulled a muscle and was replaced by Mariano Gonzalez. The delay and line-up change seemed to renew Black Watch as they scored three goals in the chukker to come within three 9-6. Crab Orchard Captain, George Rawlings, said, “When a substitute comes in they are usually fired up. During the injury delay which was just after the halftime break we became a little soft and lost some energy.” In the fifth, Black Watch closed the gap to one as they went on a 3-1 run. Rawlings added, “Defensively I thought we had them and on offense we knew we could score quick if they caught us.” In the final chukker Crab orchard scored twice on goals by Jeff Blake and Adolfo Cambiaso to go up 12-9 before Nacho Figueras and Pablo MacDonough of Black Watch again brought their team to within one 12-11. But with only :30 seconds remaining were unable to capitalize again.

Crab Orchard moves on to the quarterfinals next week and Black Watch will play another elimination game against a third place finisher in the other brackets.

Audi came out with a new run and gun attack and a revamped line-up as they surprised a listless Orchard Hill team. Juan Bolini was called out to a family emergency and Santiago Chavanne an 8T rated player moved into the number two position and Paco de Narvaez moved back to defense. It all paid off as Gonzalito Pieres playing in the attack position scored 12 times and Chavanne added the other five. Pieres said, “Santiago is quick. All I had to do was pass the ball to him and he was able to do the rest.” Audi led by as many as seven before settling for the six goal margin 17-11. Jeff Hall of Orchard Hill led his team with seven goals. Audi moves on to the next round and Orchard Hill moves into the subsidiary Hall of Fame Cup.

Stanford U.S. Polo Championship action will continue Sunday, April 6 with two games from bracket III. At noon 2006 winner Las Monjitas will face 2005 winner White Birch. The 3:00 pm Stanford Field and Stadium game is between Pony Express and Lechuza Caracas. The winner of this game goes on the loser goes to the subsidiary Hall of Fame Cup. .

International Polo Club Palm Beach is located at 3667 120th Avenue South in Wellington and hosts professional polo tournaments until the finals of the Stanford U.S. Open Polo Championship, Sunday, April 20. Information can be obtained by calling 561-204-5687 or the Polo Hotline for game updates at 561-282-5290. Web address, www.internationalpoloclub.com or www.northamericanpololeague.com.

CRAB ORCHARD 3-4-1-1-4-2=12 (3 penalty goals) Jeff Blake, Adolfo Cambiaso 5
BLACK WATCH 0-2-1-3-3-2=11 (2 penalty goals) Pablo MacDonough 5
AUDI 3-3-3-4-3-1=17 (5 penalty goals) Gonzalito Pieres 12
ORCHARD HILL 1-1-4-0-3-2=11 (5 penalty goals) Jeff Hall 7

Click Here for the updated schedule, scores and rosters of the Stanford U.S. Open Polo Championship.