Adolfo Cambiaso's dead-on penalty conversion from 100- yards out proved an exciting finish, and put Pilot Catastrophe Services on top, in the Outback 40-Goal Challenge, a match with four 10-goalers on each side. Played as a benefit for the Polo Players' Support Group, which offers financial assistance to injured and ill polo players and grooms, it was a great way to celebrate the event's 10th Anniversary on February 19.

The match was played at International Polo Club Palm Beach in Wellington, Florida and was immediately followed by live and silent auctions and a delicious dinner for VIP guests in the club's new Nespresso Grande Pavilion.

When the action on the field got underway with Adolfo Cambiaso knocking in a pair of goals for Pilot in the first period, it seemed like Pilot might cruise to victory. But the EFG team soon made it clear it wouldn't be an easy ride. Facundo Pieres and Juan Martin Nero responded to knot the score a 2-2. Pieres traded goals in the second with Pablo Mac Donough to keep the score level. The third chukker had Cambiaso sinking a penalty conversion, but before long Gonzalito Pieres scored to even it out again.

Cambiaso put Pilot briefly ahead in the fourth, but once again Facundo Pieres answered. Facundo found the mark early in the fifth, but Pilot took control with Eduardo Novillo Astrada, Mariano Aguerre and Cambiaso scoring to take the largest spread to that point, a two-goal advantage. EFG dominated the sixth with Nero scoring from the field, Facundo converting a Penalty 4 and Gonzalito Pieres putting it ahead with very little time left. But a whistle on an EFG play proved to be its undoing. A converted penalty would normally tie the score. But last year, to add to the excitement by encouraging players to try difficult shots, organizer David Offen added a two-point rule. Any player that scored from outside a dotted line, from 60- yards on the boards arcing to 100 yards in the middle of the field, would be given two goals instead of one.

The umpires awarded Pilot a Penalty 4 from 60-yards out, but gave Cambiaso the option of moving it back to the 100-yard line. It was a risk for sure. If he was able to sink the penalty with just seconds left, it would put his team ahead for the win, but if he came up short, or missed the goal, it would keep EFG in the lead with no time for a comeback. Cambiaso decided it was a risk worth taking. He nailed the shot, winning the game and eliciting resounding applause. The move also earned him the Grey Goose Long Shot Award, while Lady Walton Cookies' Best Playing Pony went to Facundo Pieres' bay mare Illustrada.

The competition was nearly as fierce at the live auction. Wayne and Pam Garrison, who have won the high bid for a party for 100 catered by Outback Steakhouse in previous years, got into a bidding war with Bob Jornayvaz and Camilo Bautista. Finally, Outback partner Tim Gannon offered a second catered dinner for 100, allowing both sets of bidders to go home and start planning their parties.

Artist Heidi Birath created a stunning painting including images of each of the 22 10-goalers who have competed in the 40-goal match over the past 10 years. All players and team sponsors received a copy. Another copy brought in $10,200 in the live auction.

Other live auction items included a box at the Kentucky Derby; a polo week in Argentina with Mariano Aguerre; a Belleau Farm Duck Hunt; an Equuleus Paintball Challenge; a dinner cruise for 20 on the Silver Seas luxury yacht; a dream team challenge, giving two bidders a chance to play with three current or former 10-goal players in a match complete with an umpire, trophies and a DVD; and the players' jerseys. Since its inception, the Polo Players' Support Group has issued 62 assistance grants totaling over $1 million to 35 injured or ill players and grooms. The Outback 40-Goal Challenge, the organization's largest fundraiser, has raised an average of nearly $350,000 per year over the past five years.