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leaning on Jeff Hall and Fred Mannix. Of course Argentine hopes soared: New Bridge-La Dolfina, had Cambiaso, Magrini and Facha Valent (a close collaborator of Dolfi’s at his club in Cañuelas). Both matches were even: BTA beat Gracida International 16-15 and the Joe Barry trophy winner beat Laurence Wallace by 15-14 after being under by 13-11 in the last chukka. Never had its long string of victories come so close to being interrupted.
The final match of the tournament, on the other hand, was much less even, even when a 12-10 score implied otherwise. Because New Bridge_La Dolfina, who was always in the lead except at the very start–because they began 1-0 under having given BTA the advantage of 1 goal–and in a couple of draws, arrived at the decisive moments with a notable advantage over their opponent. The score was 12-7 at the beginning of the sixth and last chukka, and a certain relaxation only caused the gap to grow. Adolfito ended the game having made 9 goals and once again was given the M.V.P. award as well as the one for Best Playing Pony, which in this case was Sylvia. For McCall’s team it was another happy ending: a new conquest–they held on to their title in this competition–, which made it four coronations in a row and a string of 20 victories running which began in 2006, with a total of 22 wins and only one game lost since their first intervention in the American high-goal season. Crushing.
NEW BRIDGE-LA DOLFINA BTA
12 10
Russ McCall 0 Kelly Beal 1
Matías Magrini 9 Daniel Roenisch 5
Adolfo Cambiaso 10 Jeff Hall 8
Martín Valent 3 Frederick Mannix (Jr.) 7
TOTAL: 22 TOTAL: 21
Progression: New Bridge-La Dolfina (0-1), 2-1, 2-2, 6-4, 8-5, 11-7 and 12-10.
New Bridge-La Dolfina goalers: Magrini, 3, and Cambiaso, 9 (3 penalty). BTA goalers: Roenisch, 1; Hall, 2 (1 penalty shot), and Mannix, 6 (2 penalty shots).
Most Valuable Player: Cambiaso.
Best Playing Pony: Sylvia, owned by Andrés Weisz and presented by Cambiaso.