NEWS

The USPA Pacific Coast Intra-Circuit Cup was Santa Barbara’s last 12-goal tournament of the summer season and both teams in the finals wanted the chance to be among this year’s winners. Film Finances started the game with a goal on the board to make up for their 11-goal handicap. Felipe Vercellino for Novis Insurance/Slovakia made the first goal of the game. His score was quickly answered by a goal by Mariano Fassetta of Film Finances. Not to be outdone, Felipe made back-to-back goals, ending the first chukker 3-1 in favor of Novis Insurance/Slovakia. Both teams played strong defense in the second chukker with Santi Trotz scoring the fourth goal of the game for Novis Insurance/Slovakia. However, Film Finance fought back, with Dan Walker making the team’s third goal of the game.

The third and fourth chukkers were dominated by Film Finances. Fassetta and Walker both made goals in the third to keep Novis Insurance/Slovakia scoreless. The fourth chukker almost mirrored the third, with Fassetta scoring again, and Novis/Slovakia unable to get any more goals on the board. Going into the fifth, Dan Walker made another goal for Film Finances, but Novis Insurance/Slovakia started to fight back. Two penalty conversions from Vercellino helped to get his team back in the game while narrowing the distance behind Film Finances, ending the fifth chukker 7-5. The final chukker was a battle all the way to the finish. A goal from Jim Wright of Novis Insurance/Slovakia put the team within one goal of Film Finances. Vercellino proved to be the power house of the game, scoring back-to-back goals again, propelling Novis Insurance ahead by one goal. With thirty five seconds left in the game, Gaston Von Wernich of Film Finances had the ball, and was running to goal. However, this spectacular run could not play out, and the horn sounded. Novis Insurance/Slovakia defeated Film Finances 8-7 to win the USPA Pacific Coast Intra-Circuit Cup.