Audi to meet Lechuza in the finals of the USPA Piaget Gold Cup
By Alex Webbe
Las Monjitas scored three goals to open the first semifinal match of the 2011 USPA Piaget Gold Cup at the International Polo Club in Wellington while a stunned Audi team seemed to watch on helplessly. Audi trailed through much of the game, but rallied in the final stages to tie it up and force sudden-death overtime. An overtime foul by the Las Monjitas team put 10-goaler Gonzalito Pieres on the 40-yard line where he drilled the winning goal through the goal posts for the winning score in the 12-11 contest.
Las Monjitas 10-goaler Eduardo Astrada scored a goal from the field just two minutes into the contest. Less than a minute later, Agustin Merlos added a goal and then converted a penalty shot for a goal moments later for a 3-0 lead. With seconds on the clock, Gonzalito Pieres finally got Audi on the scoreboard as time expired. Las Monjitas left the field with a 3-1 lead, and it didn’t bode well for the Audi team in the opening seven minutes of play.
Las Monjitas got two more goals in the second from Toccalino and Merlos, but Audi responded with a penalty goal from Gonzalito Pieres and a goal from the field from Brazilian 8-goaler Rodrigo Andrade. Las Monjitas continued to lead, 5-3.
Merlos converted a penalty shot for his third goal of the game to give Las Monjitas a 6-3 lead, but goals from Gonzalito Pieres and younger brother Nico Pieres brought Audi to within a goal, 6-5, as the first half ended.
Nico Pieres scored the opening goal of the fourth chukker on an extremely deep neck shot to tie it up at 6-6. Toccalino scored seconds later to keep Las Monjitas in front, 7-6. Nico Pieres received a brilliant backhand pass from teammate Rodrigo Andrade and scored again for a 7-7 tie, but Astrada would close out the scoring in the chukker with his second goal of the game, giving Las Monjitas a narrow 8-7 advantage.
Nico Pieres evened the score for the third time, 8-8, as he opened the fifth chukker with a goal, but Las Monjitas was ready to respond. Single goals from Toccalino and Merlos ended the period with Las Monjitas sitting on a 10-8 lead.
Merlos scored the first goal of the sixth chukker, giving Las Monjitas a three goal, 11-8 lead, but Audi wasn’t ready to roll over. Gonzalito Pieres converted a penalty shot for a goal and Andrade added two goals from the field, ending the chukker, leveling the game at 11-11 and forcing a sudden-death overtime period.
Less than a minute into the overtime, Las Monjitas fouled Audi and Gonzalito Pieres converted the penalty shot for the 12-11 overtime win.
“They were a very tough team,†said Audi team captain, Marc Ganzi. “They played us tough and made us work for every goal we got. I know we fell behind in the early chukkers, but I really felt like we controlled the game in the second half. I was surprised to look up at the scoreboard in the sixth and see that we were trailing by three goals,†he added.
The victory lifts the Audi team into Sunday’s finals of the 2011 USPA Piaget Cup
LECHUZA 14, ZACARA 12
After falling behind 5-0 in first chukker action, Lechuza rallied to score a 14-12 win over Zacara to earn a spot in Sunday’s USPA Piaget gold Cup finals against Audi.
Zacara received one goal by handicap and put up two goals by Mariano Uranga and single goals from 10-goaler Facundo Pieres and team captain Lyndon Lea before Lechuza’s Sapo Caset converted a 60-yard penalty shot for the team’s only goal of the first chukker. The period ended with Lechuza looking at a four deficit, 5-1.
Facundo Pieres made it 6-3 in the opening seconds of the second period, but that would be the extent of the Audi attack for the time being. Two more goals from Caset cut the Audi lead to a manageable three goals, 6-3, as the chukker ended.
Merlos, Uranga and Pieres scored single goals for Zacara in the third as Lechuza fought to stay in the game. Goals from Victor Vargas and Caset ended the first half with Zacara boasting a 9-5 lead.
A renewed Lechuza team took the field in the fourth, scoring four straight goals and tying the game at 9-9. Three straight goals from Caset were followed by a game-tying goal from Juan Martin Nero, but Pieres took a backhand pass from Mariano Uranga and buried it for the 10-9 go-ahead goal as the chukker ended.
Audi was held to a single goal in the fifth while Lechuza picked up a pair of goals from Caset. The period ended in an 11-11 deadlock as the momentum seemed to shift.
Pieres converted a penalty shot in the sixth to put Zacara back on top, 12-11, but three straight goals from Lechuza (one from Caset and two from Nero) ended any hope of a Zacara victory. The final horn sounded with Lechuza scoring a 14-12 win and earning a berth in Sunday’s finals USPA Piaget Gold cup finals against Audi.
Sapo Caset was high scorer on the game with a whopping ten goals, the second consecutive game in which Caset has scored ten times.
ORCHARD HILL AND VALIENTE WIN BUTLER HANDICAP SEMIFINALS
Orchard Hill scored a 10-8 win over Bendabout and Valiente made short work of Piaget, 14-9, in the semifinals of the Butler Handicap, the subsidiary of the USPA Piaget Gold Cup. The two teams will meet in the finals of the Butler Handicap at noon on Sunday at the International Polo Club.
Orchard Hill 10-goaler Pablo MacDonough opened the scoring with a penalty shot for a goal, but Bendabout answered with a goal from the field from team captain Gillian Johnston.
Second chukker goals from Julio Arellano (penalty shot), Johnston and Magoo Laprida had Orchard Hill trailing by three goals, 4-1 before Lucas Criado got his team in the scoring column to end the chukker 4-2.
MacDonough scored the only Orchard Hill goal in the third, but the defense limited Bendabout to a single goal, and he first half ended with Bendabout on top, 5-3.
Defense remained the word of the day in the fourth chukker with each team picking up single goals before Orchard Hill exploded for four straight goals. Criado opened with a goal from the field and then MacDonough converted two 60-yard penalty shots and added a goal from the field for an 8-7 lead. Arellano scored a goal on a penalty shot for Bendabout.
MacDonough and Criado added single goals in the sixth chukker while Arellano scored on a 40-yard penalty shot for their final goal of the game. Orchard Hill would ride off the field at the end of regulation play with a 10-8 victory and a berth in the finals of the 2011 Butler Handicap.
In the final game of the afternoon, Valiente built up a 7-5 halftime lead before running away with a 14-9 win over Piaget in the 2011 Butler Handicap.
Piaget got two goals by handicap but had trouble capitalizing on it as they managed only one goal from the field in the first four chukkers. Nachi Heguy added two more penalty goals (one in the second and one in the third), but Valiente put up three goals in both the first (one from Polito Pieres and two from Miguel Astrada) and the second (single goals from Pieres, Miguel Astrada and Nacho Astrada). Another goal from Pieres closed out the first half with Valiente claiming a two goal lead, 7-5.
A pair of goals from Nacho Astrada and single goals from Miguel Astrada and Bob Jornayvaz went unanswered and extended the Valiente lead to six goals, 11-5.
Two more goals from Miguel Astrada and a penalty goal from Nacho Astrada were countered by a single goal from Piaget’s Heguy, and the Valiente lead grew to eight goals, 14-6.
Valiente eased up in the final chukker, allowing goals from Juan Bollini and Heguy (one penalty goal and one from the field) for the final 14-9 score.
The victory lifts Valiente into the 2011 Butler Handicap finals against Orchard Hill on Sunday at noon.