Nico Escobar goal with 7 seconds left gives Forbes Plunkett win over BTA in Joe Barry Memorial final
WELLINGTON — Nico Escobar scored the winning goal with seven seconds left to lead Forbes Plunkett to a thrilling 9-8 victory over BTA on Sunday in the final of the Joe Barry Memorial.It was their second consecutive tournament win by one goal and fourth straight appearance on U.S. Polo Assn Field at National Polo Center.
Trailing for the first time, 8-7, with less than two minutes left, Forbes Plunkett (Brandon Plunkett, Nico Escobar, Pipe Vercellino, Lucas Escobar) took advantage of a crucial mistake by BTA (Nachi Viana, Steve Krueger, Alfonso Pieres, Kelly Beal).
Pieres was penalized for dangerous riding after obstructing Lucas Arellano who was nearly knocked off his horse. Pieres was assessed a double yellow flag. Vercellino converted the 40-yard penalty shot to tie the game at 8-8 with 54 seconds left. With seven seconds left, Vercellino passed the ball to Escobar who scored on a near side neck shot. The win avenged an early tournament loss.
"Scoring that final goal is all the hard work paying off we did in the off-season. I'm blessed," Escobar said. "I practice that shot every day; it's my favorite shot. I knew it was going to be anybody's game going into the last chukker, but I knew we were going to come away with the win.
"I knew it was going to be a tough final, BTA is an amazing team. They beat us the first game of this tournament. We played tough the whole game but they played tougher. They were a second-half team and don't stop fighting. My hats off to them."
Vercellino, who had four clutch penalty conversions, was named Most Valuable Player. Nico Escobar also had four goals. The team was awarded a penalty one in the third chukker. Viana had a game-high six goals for BTA. Senora Lunareja, owned and played by Pieres, was Best Playing Pony.
The post-game statistics were even with both teams shooting in the 30 percentile. Each team had 12 fouls converting five of seven penalty shots. Each team won seven throw-ins and took eight knock-ins.
The Joe Barry Memorial was the first of four qualifiers for the NPC 16-Goal Championship. The other three tournaments are the Ylvisaker Cup, which starts Tuesday with Mayer Ranch playing NOVO at NPC; Feb. 23-March 16 Iglehart Cup; and March 15-April 6 Outback Cup. Each winning team advances to the April 10-14 NPC 16-Goal final.
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The path for Forbes Plunkett and its patron, Brandon Plunkett, to win their second 16-goal title (the first was the Continental Cup) took eight years in the making at Santa Clara Polo Club in Wellington. Plunkett started playing with the Escobar brothers eight years ago - playing 6, 8, 12 and finally 16-goal tournaments.
"It's incredible, I can't even believe it," Plunkett said. "It's still sinking in because it went really well and then they played amazing the second half. Then Nico hit that goal and it was like holy crap, here we are. What a game.
"I have played mostly medium goal so this is our Gold Cup U.S. Open 22-goal win and we're going to treat it like that. It feels that important to us. I've been coming and watching this final for years."
Loxahatchee's Hope Arellano receives Hugo Dalmar Award
Before the awards ceremony, Hope Arellano of Loxahatchee and Aiken, S.C. was honored for achieving the sport's highest ranking of 10. She was also presented with the Hugo Dalmar Award for her outstanding display of sportsmanship and character on the polo field. In March 2023, Arellano led La Fe to victory in the U.S. Open Women’s Polo Championship, winning MVP in the final. In the fall, the 20-year old became the first American to win the Women’s Argentine Open.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Forbes Plunkett tops BTA for Joe Barry Memorial title at National Polo Center
