Circa hands White Birch its first loss in Waterbury Cup Play
By Alex Webbe

It was the fourth one goal win of the tournament with Circa bouncing back in the final chukker to take a nip-and-tuck 9-8 game from a talented White Birch team Monday afternoon at the Bridgehampton Polo Club as the 2011 Monty Waterbury tournament continued.

A defensive-oriented opening chukker saw Circa’s Facundo Obregon score the first goal of the game.  Runs to goal by both teams were thwarted by aggressive defensive plays.  At the end of the first period, Circa held a tenuous 1-0 lead.

Magoo made it 2-0 in the second chukker with his first goal of the game before White Birch stormed back into contention.  Mariano Aguerre scored once from the field and once on a penalty shot.  The score was all even at 2-2 at the end of the second.

Fred Mannix, Jr. scored the opening goal of the third chukker, giving White Birch its first lead of the game, 3-2.  Laprida tied it up again at 3-3, but a final goal from the field from White Birch’s Mariano Aguerre had Circa trailing 4-3 at the halfway point.

Circa regrouped for the second half, and tied it up at 4-4 and then went ahead, 5-4, on goals from Aguero.  A Circa foul put Mannix at the penalty line where he converted the shot to end the period in a 5-5 deadlock.

Facundo Obregon scored to put Circa back on top, 6-5 in fifth chukker action, but Gracida leveled it again at 6-6 and teammate Mannix put White Birch ahead 7-6 with his third goal of the afternoon.  Laprida leveled the score at 7-7 with his first penalty conversion of the day, but White Birch rallied to take the lead, 8-7, to end the period.

The final period belonged to Circa.  An oppressive defense shut down the high-powered White Birch attack in the final seven minutes of the game while Circa tied it at 8-8 on a goal from Aguero and scored the 9-8 winning goal on a 60-yard penalty goal from Laprida.

Laprida’s four goals led the Circa (1-1) attack with Aguero scoring three times and Facundo Obregon adding a pair in the win.

Fred Mannix scored four times for White Birch (1-1).  Aguerre and Gracida chipped in two goals apiece in a losing effort.

Waterbury Cup play will continue on Friday, August 5^th with Certified (1-1) facing White Birch (1-1).