USPA Piaget Gold Cup: Zacara vs. Orchard Hill

March 15, 2009 Game Reports 0

Zacara Romps in Gold Cup


By Alex Webbe


 


Zacara made an impressive debut on this season’s high-goal scene with a 14-8 win over Orchard Hill in the 2009 USPA Piaget Gold Cup at the International Polo Club in Wellington Sunday afternoon.


 


Orchard Hill 10-goaler Pablo MacDonough scored the first goal of the day, but the rest of the game belonged to Zacara.  Jeff Hall scored two goals and Carlos Gracida gave Zacara a 3-1 lead after the first chukker, and that was just he beginning.


 


Hall racked up two more goals in the second chukker to give Zacara a 5-1 advantage and Gracida put the ball through the Orchard Hill goalposts four times in the third period for a seven-goal lead, 9-2.  MacDonough’s penalty conversion accounted for Orchard Hill’s second goal of the first half.


 


“They are a very good team,” said MacDonough, “we had to play well the whole game, and we didn’t.  It was just one of those days,” he added.


 


Orchard Hill showed some life in the fourth chukker with four unanswered goals as both Lucas Criado and MacDonough tallied twice, cutting the Zacara lead to three goals, 9-6, but it was a pace they couldn’t maintain.


 


Zacara came back in the fifth chukker with four consecutive goals to take a 13-6 lead and leave Orchard Hill gasping for air.


 


“When they came at us in the fourth (chukker), I thought they could very mount a comeback,” said Hall, “so we doubled our efforts in the fifth.  We changed some of our game plans and made the necessary adjustments to keep the lead.”


 


Magoo Laprida’s second goal of the game in the final chukker gave Zacara a 14-6 lead, but Orchard Hill never quit.  Managing single goals from MacDonough and Steve Van Andel, the lead was cut to 14-8 as the final bell sounded.


 


Zacara’s Hall and Gracida set the pace for the day with six goals apiece.  Magoo Laprida added two goals in the win.


 


MacDonough scored five times for Orchard Hill.  Lucas Criado added two goals and Van Andel scored once.


 


Pablo MacDonough’s six-year-old chestnut mare Sandalia was named Best Playing Pony while Zacara’s Jeff Hall was named MVP.