Competing for the largest polo title on the West Coast, four powerhouse teams advanced to Thursday’s Pacific Coast Open Semifinal doubleheader at the Santa Barbara Polo & Racquet Club in Carpinteria, California. Featuring the Obregon brothers, Facundo and Geronimo* on opposing teams, the first semifinal saw aggressive plays by Lucchese to conquer RH 10-8, while Klentner Ranch secured their 7-6 victory over Sol de Agosto in a thrilling final 30 seconds of play. Lucchese will challenge Klentner Ranch this Sunday, September 2, at 6:30pm ET.

Enlisting the expertise of coach Joe Henderson for the Pacific Coast Open, Lucchese’s John Muse wanted to gain an edge on the highly-competitive teams at their peak in this tournament. “You have to go through a lot of good, even teams to get to the semifinals,” Muse said. “Any little thing we can do helps and Henderson’s ability to see what we cannot on the field has proved very helpful.”

Playing 8- and 12-goal in Indio, California, with Danny Walker, Cruz Andrade revealed that it was his first time playing 16-goal polo. “It was amazing to score the winning goal!” 18-year-old Cruz Andrade exclaimed. “Today was my first time filling in for them and I was able to help them get to the final again this year.”

TEAMS:

RH: Ben Soleimani A, Santiago von Wernich 5, Iñaki Laprida 7, Geronimo Obregon 4.

Lucchese: Facundo Obregon 6, John Muse A, Toly Ulloa 3, Jeff Hall 7.

Sol de Agosto: Francisco de Narvaez 1, Paco de Narvaez 7, Adam Snow 5, Nico Escobar 3.

Farmers & Merchants Bank: Dan Walker 2, Lucas Criado 8, Tomas Alberdi 4, Ignacio Viana 2.

Klentner Ranch: Jesse Bray 6, Justin Klentner 1, Remy Du Celliee Muller 3, Mariano Obregon 6.