2012 USPA Piaget Gold Cup kicks off with three matches

ERG, Zacara and Valiente I score wins in the openinground of the 2012 USPA Piaget Gold Cup

 

ByAlex Webbe

The 2012 USPA Piaget Gold Cup got off to an excitingstart Wednesday with three games taking place at the International Polo Club inWellington.

ERG, Zacara and Valiente I all registered opening wins inthe twelve-team, four bracket competition that will culminate in a March 25thfinal.

ERG needed overtime to defeat a determined Alegria team,11-10, in the day’s morning contest with Marcos Alberdi (substituting for teamcaptain Scott Wood) being credited with the winning goal.

Alegria scored first with a goal from the field from FredMannix followed by a penalty conversion from Tomas Garcia del Rio.  Goals from ERG’s Agustin Merlos and MarcosAlberdi had it all even at 2-2 at the end of the first seven minutes of play.

Mariano Aguerre’s first goal of the day had Alegria ontop, 3-2 in the opening minutes of the second chukker.  Agustin Merlos responded for ERG with a near300 yard run down the field, scoring the tying goal, 3-3, goal as he carriedthe ball through the goal posts in mid-air.

Alegria charged into the third chukker with abandon,collecting two straight goals from Julian Mannix for a 5-3 lead.  Agustin Merlos scored the last goal of theperiod, but it was Alegria that held the 5-4 advantage.

Both defenses tightened in the fourth with ERG’s Paco deNarvaez tying it up at 5-5 with the only goal of the chukker.

Fred Mannix scored a goal in the first 30 seconds of thefifth chukker for a 6-5 Alegria lead, but that was when the tables turned.  Agustin Merlos scored a penalty goal and followedit up with a goal from the field, for the first ERG lead of the day, 7-6.  De Narvaez made it 8-6 with his third goal ofthe morning.  Fred Mannix converted apenalty shot to cut the new ERG lead to a single goal, 8-7, but greatindividual effort by Agustin Merlos, carrying the ball over 200yards down thefield for a goal closed out the chukker with ERG ahead, 9-7.

Sixth chukker action had Agustin Merlos scoring hisseventh goal of the game to give ERG a three goal lead when Alegria came tolife.  Goals from Aguerre and JulianMannix cut the lead to a single goal, 10-9 when del Rio delivered a long passto Fred Mannix that he converted for the tying goal as time ran out in thechukker.

Sudden-death overtime was decided in the first minute ofplay with Alberdi scoring the goal for the 11-10 win.

Agustin Merlos set the pace for the field with sevengoals (three on penalty shots).  Alberdiand de Narvaez scored two goals apiece for the victory.

Fred Mannix scored four times for the Alegria contingent(two by penalty).  Julian Mannix addedthree scores with Aguerre scoring twice and del Rio accounting for a singlegoal.

ZACARA14, LA ENSENADA 11

Zacara fell behind early in their contest with LaEnsenada but rallied to take a 7-4 halftime lead before galloping off with the14-11 win in the day’s first afternoon match.

La Ensenada received one goal by handicap but had Zacaratie it up with a goal from the field from Magoo Laprida.  Matias Magrini gave the lead back to LaEnsenada to close the first chukker with a 2-1 lead.

Juan Garcia Grossi extended the La Ensenada lead to twogoals, 3-1, in the second chukker, with his first goal of the game.  Zacara answered back with a penaltyconversion for a score from 10-goaler Facundo Pieres, and tied it up at 3-3 ona goal from the field from Laprida.

Zacara came to the field in the third burning on alleight cylinders, collecting three goals from Pieres, (two from the field andone on a penalty shot) ad a single gal from Joaquin Pittaluga.  La Ensenada responded with a single 60-yardpenalty conversion from Lucas James.  Thefirst half ended with Zacara holding a 7-4 edge.

The fourth chukker ended with Magrini converting a40-yard penalty shot followed by a goal from the field from James.  Laprida closed out the chukker with his thirdgoal of the game as Zacara rode on top of an 8-6 score.

Magrini converted two more penalty shots for goals in thefifth, but Zacara put three goals of their own on the scoreboard.  Pieres scored twice (once from the field andonce on a penalty shot) and Laprida added another goal.  The Zacara lead was extended to three goals,11-8.

The sixth chukker might have featured the most action ofthe game with each team scoring three goals. La Ensenada got a pair of goals from Grossi and a goal from the fieldfrom James.  Zacara relied on singlegoals from Laprida, Pieres and Pittaluga for the 14-11 final.

Pieres was the high scorer with seven goals forZacara.  Laprida added five goals andPittaluga scored twice in the win.

Magrini led the La Ensenada attack with four goals, Grossiand James added three goals each and the team received one goal by handicap.

VALIENTE10, AUDI 9

Audi was spotted three goals by the 26-goal Valiente Iteam and led by three goals after the first chukkers of play, but it wasValiente I that staged a second half rally to capture a hard-fought 10-9 win inthe final seconds of the game.

Trailing 3-0 in the opening chukker, Miguel Astradaconverted a penalty shot for a goal and Nacho Astrada scored a goal from thefield to cut the lead to a single goal, 3-2.  Nic Roldan responded with a 40-yard penalty goal and the chukker endedwith Audi ahead, 4-2.

Fast-paced action in the second frame of the game sawMiguel Astrada score the only goal on a 60-yard penalty shot while drive afterdrive from both Audi and Valiente I failed to score.  Valiente I was within a single goal of Audi,4-3.

Miguel Astrada scored a goal from the field to knot it upat 4-4, but Negro Astrada would have the final word, scoring his first goal ofthe match to give Audi the 5-4 advantage at the midway point of the game.

Audi seemed to take control of the game in the fourth, outscoringValiente I by a 4-2 margin and expanding its lead to three goals, 9-6.  Roldan scored twice (once from the field andonce on a penalty shot) while Negro Astrada and Rodrigo Andrade added singlegoals.  Miguel Astrada was credited witha two goals for Valiente I.  After fourchukkers of play, Audi sat comfortably on top of a 9-6 lead.

Valiente chipped away at the score kin the fifth,combining miserly defense with a productive attack.  Two goals from Miguel Astrada and shutoutdefense had Valiente I within one goal of the lead, 9-8, as the period came toan end.

After minutes of trying, Valiente I finally tied it up at9-9 in the final chukker on a goal from Polito Pieres, but time was runningout.  With seconds remaining on the clockand Valiente I attacking the Audi goal, a foul put Valiente I at the penaltyline where Pieres converted the shot for the winning goal.

Miguel Astrada led the Valiente I attack with sixgoals.  Nacho Astrada and Pieres addedtwo goals apiece.

Roldan scored three times for Audi.  Negro Astrada added two goals and Andradescored once in the loss.  Audi receivedthree goals by handicap.