The awareness and anticipation of wily veteran Sebi Merlos helped put ERG into the semifinals of the Bombardier Pacific Coast Open high-goal polo tournament on Sunday at the Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club.
In a wild quarterfinal game, where the momentum continually changed, Merlos made a big defensive play that helped ERG tie the score at 14-14 in the final minute of regulation. He then scored in overtime to beat Grants Farm 15-14.
In the second quarterfinal, Miguel Astrada scored six goals and assisted on several others to lead Piaget to a 14-7 victory over Mansour.
In Thursday’s semifinal matchups, Piaget will face Audi and ERG will take on Lucchese for the chance to play for the PCO Championship on Sunday at 2 p.m.
Mansour and Grants Farm meet in the Final Western Badge & Trophy on Saturday at 3 p.m.
Jeff Hall converted a penalty shot to give Grants Farm a 14-13 lead with a couple of minutes left in regulation time.
ERG missed by inches on a chance to tie the score and appeared to be finished as Grants Farm knocked the ball to the boards to run out the clock. But Merlos read the play, collected the ball and fed Paco de Navarez for a shot. Navarez was hooked as he took the shot and the ball wound up in a perfect spot Miguelito Torres, who put it between the posts for the tying goal.
ERG went on the attack in the overtime and fired a shot that Grants Farm had trouble clearing. Merlos got to the ball and scored the game-winner.
In the other game, Piaget jumped out to a 7-2 lead after the second chukker and extended it to 8-2 after the third.
The lead grew to 11-3 before Lolo Castagnola scored three unanswered goals for Mansour to close the gap.
