Valiente plastered Coca-Cola17-12 as the U.S. Open Polo Championship® continued Sunday at the International Polo Club Palm Beach (IPC). Orchard Hill defeated Audi 12-8, and Flexjet took Travieso 11-9 in the 3 p.m. featured match on Engel & Völkers field.
In one of the most dominant offensive performances of the 2017 season, Valiente was an unstoppable force after Coca-Cola made a push early in the game. After a quick opening goal by Adolfo Cambiaso, Coca-Cola answered back with two straight goals. The first came from a smooth pass from Julian de Lusarreta that was finished off by Miguel Novillo Astrada, and the second on an amazing nearside neck shot from Julio Arellano with Cambiaso on his hip. However, after that it was all Valiente, who summarily scored 6 straight goals on 7 shot attempts, all from the field. Matias Torres Zavaleta scored once, Cambiaso added two more and Diego Cavanagh scoring his first 3 goals of the day to push the Valiente lead to 7-2.
Three fouls from Valiente in the third chukker resulted in two penalty conversions for Coca-Cola, getting them back within three goals, but Valiente just could not be stopped on this day. Valiente blew the game up in the fifth chukker, scoring 5 goals, winning all 6 throw-ins and preventing Coca-Cola from getting a single shot at goal as they built up a huge 17-8 lead. In a game that had a combined 6 knock-ins but 24 goals from the field, Valiente rarely missed. They made 15 of their 19 shots (79%) and controlled the throw-ins, winning 23 to Coca-Cola’s 11. Valiente rolled to a 17-12 victory to move to 2-0 in the US Open.
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