Valienterolls over; Audi squeaks by; and Zacara slips past in Maserati U. S. Open play
ByAlex Webbe
The International Polo Club in Wellington hosted three more matches in the 2013 Maserati U. S. Open Championship as play continues.
In the opening game of the day Valiente (1-0) gave the field an indication of the kind of firepower they carried as the rolled over Coca-Cola (1-1) 15-7 in a game whose outcome was never in doubt.
Ten-goaler Adolfo Cambiaso scored the opening two goals of the game to give Valiente a 2-0 lead before Coca-Cola ever got on thescoreboard. Four minutes into the first chukker Sebastian Merlos drove the ball through the Valiente goalposts to cutthe lead to a single goal, 2-1. With 2:03 left in the period, Santi Torres converted a penalty shot for a goal andPelon Stirling closed out the chukker with a goal from the field in the final15 seconds of play. Valiente took anearly three goal, 4-1 lead after the first seven-and-a-half minutes of play.
The Coca-Cola defense tightened up in the second chukkerbut Valiente still managed to score a pair of goals. Cambiaso scored the first goal of the chukkerin the opening 34 seconds of play while fellow 10-goaler, Stirling, addedanother goal just two minutes later. Thechukker ended with Valiente holding a comfortable 6-1 advantage over astaggering Coca-Cola foursome.
Coca-Cola bounced back in the third, picking up two goalsand cutting the Valiente lead to three goals, 6-3. Merlos picked up his second goal of the dayin the opening seconds of the chukker followed by a goal from team captainGillian Johnston. Stirling scored thefinal goal of the period to give Valiente a four goal lead, 7-3 at the end ofthe first half.
Valiente took the field in the fourth chukker and addedthree consecutive goals for a 10-3 lead. Single goals from Santi Torres, Cambiaso and Stirling slammed the dooron any thoughts Coca-Cola had of getting back into the game. Julio Arellano scored a solo goal forCoca-Cola to end the chukker trailing 10-4.
Valiente showed no signs of slowing down in the fifth asTorres opened the scoring with a goal from the field, 11-4, followed by a pairof goals from Cambiaso, 13-4. Coca-Colasaved face with goals from Merlos and Sugar Erskine, but trailed by sevengoals, 13-6.
Even though Valiente looked to be easing their foot offof the accelerator in the final chukker, 6-goaler Torres added two more goalsto their total. With 4:45 left in thegame, Valiente held a nine goal, 15-6 advantage over Coca-Cola. A final goal from Arellano at 2:33 closed thebook on the game as Valiente rang up a 15-7 victory.
Coca-Cola’s record falls to 0-2 with the loss whileValiente register its first win of the tournament for a 1-0 record.
Cambiaso set the pace for the day with six goals. Torres scored five times and Stirling wascredited with four goals on the day. Merlos was high scorer for Coca-Cola with three goals. Arellano added two goals and Erskine andJohnston each scored a goal in the loss.
AUDI11, ZORZAL 10 in OT
A noon matchup saw a once-beaten Audi team come back froma two goal deficit in the fifth chukker to tie a talented Zorzal lineup beforescoring an 11-10 overtime win.
A banged up (broken thumb on his mallet hand) Marc Ganziled his Audi team against Freddie Mannix’s Zorzal quartet in Sunday’s nooncontest in a game that Audi needed to win. Audi had dropped their first US. Open game to Coca-Cola just four daysearlier and couldn’t afford a second loss. Zorzal was coming off of an impressive showing in their 10-8 win overERG, and was looking for a second straight win.
The two teams traded goals in the opening chukker with7-goaler Marianito Obregon scoring twice from the field while Audi relied onpenalty goals from Gonzalito Pieres and Nico Pieres for a 2-2 tie.
Audi was awarded a rare Penalty 1, awarding them a goal,3-2, and a throw-in just 10 yards from the Zorzal goal. Zorzal tied it up at 3-3 on a 60-yard penaltyconversion from Mariano Gonzalez less than a minute later. Jason Crowder’s first goal of the game closedout the scoring in the period with Zorzal on top, 4-3.
Both teams tightened up their defenses in the thirdperiod. The only goal came with 1:19left in the chukker when Nico Pieres converted a 60-yard penalty shot forAudi. At the end of the first half itwas all even at 4-4.
Three consecutive goals from Zorzal in the fourth chukkerhad Audi trailing, 7-4. Crowder openedthe period with a goal in the first 23 seconds of the period followed by apenalty conversion from Obregon and a goal from the field from team captainFreddie Mannix. Nico Pieres kept Audifrom being shutout with a penalty goal at 1:37 to end the chukker. With two periods left to play, Zorzal held a7-5 lead over Audi. Ganzi left the fieldjust three minutes into the period with an injured arm and was replaced byJuancito Bollini.
Audi got back on track in the fifth, with Nico Pieresscoring two goals in less than a minute to even it up at 7-7. Crowder gave the lead back to Zorzal, 8-7,with 2:32 left to play. Mannix pushed theZorzal lead back to two goals with his second score of the game with 39 secondson the clock. The chukker ended withZorzal holding on to their two goal lead, 9-7.
Nico Pieres scored the first goal of the sixth chukker ona penalty shot followed by a goal from the field from Bollini that tied it at9-9. Crowder scored his fourth goal ofthe match to give the lead back to Zorzal, 10-9. Ten-goaler Gonzalito Pieres powered the ballthrough the Zorzal goalposts with 31 seconds on the clock to tie it up andforce sudden-death overtime.
Jeff Hall dug the ball out of the lineup on the throw-inand raced down the field to score the winning goal in the opening 15 seconds ofovertime for the Audi win. The victoryimproves Audi’s record to 1-1, while the loss is Zorzal’s first against onewin, 1-1.
Nico Pieres scored four of his team high six goals onpenalty shots. Gonzalito Pieres scoredon two penalty shots. Bollini and Halladded single goals in the win and the team received one goal on a Penalty1. Crowder was credited with four goalsfor Zorzal. Obregon scored three times;Mannix twice and Gonzalez added a goal in a losing effort.
ZACARA12, ORCHARD HILL 10
Zacara rode onto the International Polo Club’s stadiumfield Sunday afternoon as the defending U. S. Open champion, and looked toredeem itself after its disappointing loss to Valiente in last week’s USPAPiaget Gold Cup final. Steve Van Andel’sOrchard Hill lineup was looking for a way to return to the tournament finals, afeat accomplished by the team three times in the past, but it would be Zacarathat would manage to hold on for the 12-10 victory.
In an unsettled first chukker, both Zacara and OrchardHill felt on another out, searching for weaknesses in the other and scoringopportunities. Orchard Hill got on thescoreboard first on a 60-yard penalty conversion from Pablo MacDonough at the5:29 mark. Less than two minutes laterMagoo Laprida blasted the ball through the goalposts from 70 yards out to tieit up at 1-1 to end the period.
Zacara team captain Lyndon Lea gave Zacara the lead inthe second period with a goal from the field just a minute in for the 2-1edge. Orchard Hill responded with a pairof penalty goals to end the chukker with Orchard Hill on top of a 3-2 score.
Consecutive goals from Matias MacDonough (penalty conversion) and Rodrigo Andrade (100 yard shot through the goal) had OrchardHill ahead by three goals, 5-2. With less than a minute left in the chukker Facundo Pieres scored his first goal ofthe game, cutting the Orchard Hill lead to two goals, 5-3, to end the firsthalf.
Not used to being behind, Zacara returned to the field in the second half -on a mission. Mike Azzaro was on the receiving end of a well-placed pass from Laprida and scored the chukker’s opening goal, 5-4. Laprida scored two more goals in less than aminute, allowing Zacara to take the lead, 6-5, for just the second time allday. Lea scored one of the most amazing goals of the day on a neck shot taken at a sharp angle from over 30-yards for agoal, 7-5. Matias MacDonough scored the final goal of the chukker on a penalty shot that cut the Zacara lead down to a singlegoal, 7-6.
Twenty-seven seconds into the fifth chukker Pieres converted a 40-yard penalty shot for a goal as Zacara extended its lead back totwo goals, 8-6. Azzaro’s third score of the game had Zacara on top by three goals, 9-6 when Orchard Hill pushedback. Matias Macdonough scored on a penalty shot, 9-7, and Andrade added a goal on a difficult but well-executed nearside neck-shot with less than two minutes in the period, 9-8. A penalty goal from Pieres closed out thechukker with Zacara leading by two goals, 10-8.
Azzaro’s forth score of the game gave Zacara an 11-8, three goal cushion, but Orchard Hill responded. A goal from the field from 10-goaler Pablo Macdonough was countered by a 40-yard penalty conversion from Pieres. Pablo MacDonough cut the lead back to two goals with 2:48 to go when thewheels began to fall off the wagon for the Van Andel lineup. A couple of key misses in the final minutesof the game sealed their fate, and Zacara escaped with a 12-10 victory.
The win gives Zacara a 1-0 record while Orchard Hill (0-1) suffered their first loss.
Matias MacDonough led the Orchard Hill team with five goals. Pablo MacDonough scored threetimes and Andrade added two goals. Abalanced Zacara attack had Pieres and Azzaro scoring four goals apiece. Lea and Laprida each scored twice for thewin.