Alegria wins Les Armour Cup
By
Alex Webbe
Although they traded leads through much of the game,
Alegria rallied late in the game to score a 9-7 win over Las Monjitas in the
finals of the 26-goal Les Armour Cup at the International Polo club in
Wellington Saturday afternoon.
The game opened quickly, with Javier Astrada scoring the
opening goal of the game in the first 20 seconds of play, followed by a goal
from his brother, Eduardo Astrada for a 2-0 Las Monjitas lead. Julian Mannix got Alegria on the scoreboard
with a push shot that traveled between the Las Monjitas goalposts with 2:26 in
the first chukker. Fred Mannix tied it
up at 2-2 on a penalty shot to end the period.
Alegria took control of the second chukker, picking up a
goal from the field from Julian Mannix followed by a penalty conversion from
his brother Fred Mannix. A smothering
defense kept Las Monjitas from scoring as Alegria left the field after the
first two chukkers with a 4-2 advantage.
The pace of play continued to escalate in the third
period, but defenses were resolute.
Inaki Laprida scored the lone goal of the chukker and Alegria rode off
of the field at the end of the period with a narrow 4-3 lead.
A regrouped Las Monjitas team returned to the field in
the second half determined to take control of the ball. Three unanswered goals had them ahead 6-4
with Alegria searching for answers. For
the second consecutive chukker Alegria was held scoreless.
Alegria turned the tables on Las Monjitas in the fifth,
scoring two goals and providing their own shutout defense. Mariano Aguerre scored the first goal of the
chukker followed by a goal from Julian Mannix with just 54 seconds left in the
chukker. Las Monjitas saw their two-goal
lead vanish with one chukker left to play.
Javier Astrada’s second goal of the game was scored in
the opening seconds of the sixth chukker and gave Las Monjitas a 7-6 lead, but
Alegria was just getting started. A
penalty goal from Tomas Garcia del Rio was followed by a penalty goal from Fred
Mannix and a closing goal from the field from Julian Mannix for the 9-7 win.
Julian Mannix led the Alegria team with four goals. Fred Mannix scored three times and teammates
Aguerre and del Rio added single goals in the win.
Inaki Laprida and Javier Astrada scored three goals
apiece for Las Monjitas. Eduardo Astrada
added a goal.
Aguerre’s Versweet was named Best Playing Pony while
Eduardo Astrada received MVP honors.
LA
ENSENADA 14, PIAGET 13 OT
Earlier in the day, in a Royal Salute C. V. Whitney Cup
consolation match, La Ensenada scored a 14-13 win over a talented Piaget lineup
that held the lead on fourteen different occasions in the course of the match.
Piaget received two goals by handicap from La Ensenada
and watched Juan Garcia Grossi score the opening goal of the game. Piaget responded with a goal from Negro
Astrada, 3-2. Matias Magrini converted a
penalty shot for the final goal of the period leaving Piaget in front, 3-2.
Goals from Piaget’s Nic Roldan and Astrada in the second
period were countered by single goals from Magrini and Lucas James. Piaget continued to lead, 5-4.
Roldan converted a penalty shot for a goal to put Piaget
ahead, 6-4, but La Ensenada answered back with single goals from James and
Magrini to knot it up at 6-6 at the end of the first half.
The back and forth contest continued into the fourth
chukker with the teams exchanging goals.
Ernesto Gutierrez and Grossi tallied for La Ensenada while Piaget got
goals from Roldan and Rodrigo Andrade.
After four chukkers it was all even at 8-8.
Astrada scored to give Piaget a 9-8 lead in the fifth,
but La Ensenada responded with a penalty goal from Magrini. Roldan’s fourth goal of the day ended the
chukker with Piaget defending a narrow 10-9 lead.
The pace increased in the final chukker of regulation
time with Gutierrez scoring the tying goals, 10-10. Magrini powered through the Piaget defense to
give La Ensenada an 11-10 advantage. A
pair of goals from Roldan (one by penalty one from the field) had Piaget on
top, 12-11, but La Ensenada had no thoughts of giving up. Magrini knotted it up again at 12-12 with his
sixth goal of the game. Astrada scored
to put Piaget back in the lead, 13-12. With
23 seconds on the clock, Grossi had it deadlocked at 13-13, forcing a
sudden-death overtime period.
With fresh horses and determined players returning to the
field in overtime, it took just over a minute for James to score the winning
goal for La Ensenada in the 14-13 victory.
Magrini scored six times for La Ensenada (two on penalty
shots). James and Grossi added three
goals apiece and team captain Ernesto Gutierrez scored twice.
Roldan was credited with six scores for Piaget (three on
penalty shots). Astrada added four goals
and Andrade added a goal in the loss.