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April
22, 2007 Whatever the sport, the best players always want the ball in the end. Adolfo Cambiaso’s legend grew even larger as he scored on a breakaway with 17 seconds remaining to carry pre-tournament favorite Crab Orchard over arch-rival Jedi 15-14 in the final of the Stanford U.S. Open before a record 8,273 spectators Sunday at International Polo Club Palm Beach. “What they were looking at, I don’t know,” said Cambiaso after the game. “They forgot about me.” Nine-goaler Matias Magrini of Crab Orchard somehow passed the ball to Cambiaso despite a lot of traffic near midfield from the throw-in. “Once he got the ball, it’s a goal,” said Magrini. “I didn’t worry about it.” "The last throw-in was like overtime, it’s 50-50,” said Pablo MacDonough of Jedi. “They have a chance to win, we have a chance. Both teams deserved to win." “What a game. This is the experience of a lifetime,” said Crab Orchard patron George Rawlings. “I liked it the best when the horn blew the last time.” After the final horn, a smiling Rawlings received long hugs and was congratulatory pounding on his back from Cambiaso, Magrini and David Stirling Jr. The 29 goals are the most goals by both teams in a U.S. Open final. The previous record was 26 when Outback defeated Orchard Hill 14-12 in 2001, ironically the last time Cambiaso won the tournament. This is his fourth U.S. Open crown and the fourth time he received the Most Valuable Player award. Cambiaso’s mare, Noreuga, received the Best Playing Pony Award. It was the 29th time a U.S. Open final was decided by one goal. The most recent was in 2005 when White Birch defeated Skeeterville 11-10. Crab Orchard’s 15 goals tied for the second most goals by a winning team with Outback in 1995. Templeton in 1932, Old Westbury in 1938 and Outback in 1996 each scored 16 goals while winning the U.S. Open. Jedi, in its first U.S. Open since 2002, defeated Crab Orchard 10-8 earlier this month during divisional play. It looked like they might have the key to beating Crab Orchard, jumping out to a 5-1 lead. But Cambiaso scored three goals as Crab Orchard rallied to take a 6-5 lead with 4:25 left in the third chukker. Crab Orchard extended its lead to 10-7 on Magrini’s goal with 1:10 left in the four chukker. Jedi refused to give up, scoring three unanswered goals, to tie the game at 10-10 with 3:29 remaining in the fifth chukker on Magoo Laprida’s drive down the middle after picking up a loose ball. Crab Orchard responded with consecutive goals by Stirling and Magrini to take a 12-10 margin into the final chukker. Jedi battled back again to tie it at 14-14 on Laprida’s 20-yard neck shot with 60 seconds left, setting the stage for Cambiaso’s heroics. Crab Orchard, playing in its first U.S. Open since 2000,
was the dominant team at International Polo Club, going 12-2 in 26-goal
games in 2007. Cambiaso and Magrini, who were teammates on New Bridge
La Dolfina in the 22-goal season at IPC, went undefeated in 10 games.
Together, Magrini and Cambiaso won four of the five tournaments at International
Polo Club. They also won the subsidiary tourney, the Iglehart Cup, of
the only event they did not win. |
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Simply
the best: Crab Orchard