Alegriawins USPA Piaget Gold Cup opener
By Alex Webbe
Alegria (JulianMannix, Clemente Zavaleta, Polito Pieres and Hilario Ulloa) won the openingmatch of the 2014 USPA Piaget Gold Cup at the International Polo Club Fridayafternoon in an 11-9 victory over Flight Options (Melissa Ganzi, EduardoAstrada, Miguel Astrada and Alejandro Astrada).
Alegria 9-goaler HilarioUlloa scored the first goal of the game less than two minutes into the openingchukker, 1-0. Miguel Astrada evened the scoretwo minutes later, 1-1, for the only other score of the chukker.
Alegria grabbed theearly momentum of the second period with Julian Mannix putting his team up 2-1,and teammate Ulloa adding another goal to the Alegria total less than a minutelater, 3-1. Eduardo Astrada cut the leadback to a single goal, 3-2, with his first goal of the day. Polito Pieres (replacing the sidelinedMariano Aguerre) converted a 40-yard penalty shot for a goal to give Alegria atwo goals lead, 4-2. Eduardo Astrada andAlejandro Astrada scored consecutive goals in the last 1:20 of the chukker toknot it up at 4-4.
The game remainedtight throughout the third. Alejandro Astradascored first to put Flight Options on top, 5-4. It was nearly four minutes later before Pieres tied it up on a goal fromthe field. Miguel Astrada put flightOptions back in the lead at 2:10 on a 60-yard penalty shot. A late foul sent Pieres to the penalty line wherehe evened it up at 6-6 on a short penalty conversion to end the first half.
Alegria charged intothe second half as Mannix and Pieres scored two goals apiece while holdingFlight Options scoreless. With twochukkers left to play Alegria owned a 10-6 edge.
Both defenses putthe clamps on in the fifth. Nearly fourminutes had passed before Miguel Astrada scored the only goal of the chukker. Alegria continued to lead, however, 10-7.
Miguel Astradascored on a short penalty shot for flight Options in the sixth, 10-8, when the Alegriadefense stepped it up. It was nearlyfive minutes until Pieres scored from the field for Alegria, 11-8. Miguel Astrada scored the final goal of the gameon a 60-yard penalty conversion with 51 seconds left to play. The final horn sounded and Alegria celebratedthe 11-8 victory.
Pieres was creditedwith a game high six goals (three on penalty shots). Mannix added three goals and Ulloa scoredtwice. Miguel Astrada’s five goals (threeon penalty conversions) led the Flight Options attack. Eduardo Astrada and Alejandro Astrada scoredtwo goals each in the loss.
USPA Piaget Gold Cupaction continues at the International Polo Club on Saturday with a 10am contestbetween Orchard Hill (Steve Van Andel, Santiago Chavanne, Pablo MacDonough andMatias MacDonough) and Audi (Marc Ganzi, Gonzalo Del Tour, Gonzalito Pieres and Rodrigo Andrade).