Merlos scores winning goal in 40-goal match
By Alex Webbe
It is a rare event when the very best polo players in the world take the field at the same time, but the Outback 40-goal Challenge has become the popular annual fundraiser for the non-profit Polo Players Support Group which provides financial assistance to seriously injured or ill polo players and grooms.
Staged at the International Polo Club in Wellington eight 10-goal polo players (there are less than a dozen in the world), the highest rated players in the world, faced off in the event to a enthusiastic, if chilly, crowd, who watches the EFG Bank team score an exciting 12-11 win over a talented Equueleus foursome in the final seconds of play.
In an effort to add another dimension to this already difficult sport, the event rules committee decided to add a new wrinkle to the game by creating a 2-goal line approximately 80 yards from the goals. It was decided that any shot being taken and scored from the 80-yard marker would be counted as two points, and much to the delight of the spectators, the players took full advantage of the opportunity offered.
The Equuleus team ( Facundo Pieres, Gonzalito Pieres, Eduardo Novillo Astrada and Lolo Castagnola) scored first, with Gonzalito Pieres putting the goal through the posts three minutes into the game. Less than a minute later Pablo MacDonough of the EFG Bank team (Adolfo Cambiaso, Agustin Merlos, Pablo MacDonough and Juan Martin Nero) tied it with a goal of his own, and the chukker ended.
Second chukker goals from Cambiaso and Nero were combined with shutout defense as EFG Bank took a 3-1 lead, but the game was far from over.
Equuleus staged a dramatic comeback as their attack pressed the EFG Bank defense. Facundo Pieres converted a penalty shot to open the chukker followed a couple of minutes later by a penalty goal from Castagnola. EFG Bank mounted drives toward the Equuleus goal, but the defense held. Astrada connected on a shot at goal in the last seconds of play, and Equuleus left the field with a 4-3 edge.
Nero scored the first 2-pointer of the day to open the fourth chukker followed by a 2-point goal from MacDonough. EFG Bank quickly found itself on top of a 7-4 score.
Facundo Pieres answered with a goal from the field followed by a 2-point goal from brother, Gonzalito, and the score was all even at 7-7. Cambiaso countered with a single goal from the field, however, and the chukker ended with EFG Bank ahead, 8-7.
Horses raced from one end of the field to the other as mallet and ball were played as if one. Facundo Pieres scored his third goal of the game to knot it up at 8-8 before a 2-point penalty conversion from Cambiaso gave the lead back to EFG Bank at the end of the chukker, 10-8.
Peerless in their sport, these mounted warriors battled horse and mallet as they displayed great horsemanship and dexterity with the long bamboo mallets in the final seven minutes of play.
Astrada cut the EFG Bank lead to a single goal with his second goal of the day and Facundo Pieres put Equuleus ahead with a 2-point, 130-yard shot from the field, 11-10.
EFG Bank continued to press its attack, getting a tying goal from Cambiaso, 11-11, before Merlos’s first goal of the afternoon, in the final seconds of regulation play gave them the game, 12-11.
Cambiaso led the EFG team with four goals. MacDonough and Nero scored twice and Merlos scored the winning goal.
Facundo Pieres scored four times for Equuleus. Gonzalito Pieres and Castagnola scored single goals and Astrada added a pair from the field.
Facundo Pieres was named MVP of the exhibition match and his horse Polvorin was named Best Playing Pony.
Polo action resumes on Sunday featuring the finals of the 2010 Ylvisaker Cup, with the Hawks facing Lucchese in the stadium at 3 pm.