Audi, Lucchese and Villa Del Lago remain undefeated
By Alex Webbe
It was a full day of polo at the International Polo Club Thursday
as eight teams competed in second round play in the 2012 Ylvisaker Cup. Lucchese, Vila Del Lago and Audi ended the
day with unblemished 2-0 records while Piaget evened its record at 1-1.
Valiente II ran off to a 7-5 halftime lead before falling
to Lucchese 13-12 after second half play.
Lucchese phenom Santi Torres scored the first goal of the
game but was countered by goals from Nacho Astrada and Toto Collardin. Torres closed out the chukker by scoring the
tying goal, 2-2, on a well-executed nearside neck shot.
Astrada converted a 60-yard penalty shot to open the
scoring in the second period and give Valiente II a 3-2 edge. Pelon Stirling responded with a goal for
Lucchese, to knot it up at 3-3.
Collardin notched the last tally of the chukker for a 4-3 Valiente II lead.
Stirling scored once from the field and converted a
60-yard Safety in the third chukker but Valiente II added three more
goals. Julio Gracida scored his first
goal of the day from the field while Astrada scored on a penalty shot and cut
the ball through the goalposts to end the chukker. Valiente II left the field at the end of the
first half with a 7-5 advantage.
Fourth period scores from Cote Zegers (substituting for
the injured Andres Weisz) and Stirling tied the game at 7-7. A second goal from Stirling had Lucchese
ahead, 8-7 before Valiente stormed back.
Astrada scored on a deep cut shot through the goalposts while Julio
Gracida converted a penalty shot, taking a 9-8 lead as the chukker ended.
Shutout defense and another pair of goals from Stirling
(one on a penalty shot and one from the field) in the fifth chukker had
Lucchese in the lead with just one chukker left in regulation time. Stirling scored the first goal on a 60-yard
penalty shot and added the second from the ensuing throw-in to lead, 10-9.
Collardin tied it at 10-10 in the sixth chukker with his
third goal of the game. Torres answered back with a go ahead goal for
Lucchese, 11-10. Gracida had it all even
at 11-11 following a penalty conversion for a goal. Goals from Stirling and Zegers extended the Lucchese
lead to two goals, 13-11 with time running out. Astrada scored the final goal of the game, but
time expired, and Lucchese (2-0) celebrated the 31-12 win over Valiente II
(0-2).
Stirling held scoring honors with eight goals (four on penalty
shots). Torres scored three times. Zegers accounted for two goals in the win.
Astrada set the pace for Valiente II with six goals. Gracida and Collardin added three goals
apiece in the loss.
AUDI
9, EQUULEUS 5
Audi registered its second consecutive win in Ylvisaker
Cup competition with a 9-5 win over Equuleus (1-1) in Thursday morning play.
In a slow-start, Nic Roldan scored the only goal of the
opening chukker while the Audi defense held Equuleus scoreless. Audi missed a pair of 60-yard penalty shots
and continued to pressure the Equuleus goal, but were unable to convert on a
number of early opportunities.
Audi team captain Marc Ganzi scored a second unanswered
goal in the second period as Equuleus continued to struggle to find an
offense. Audi missed on a couple of
scoring opportunities but continued to control the game.
Equuleus finally got on the scoreboard in the third on
goals from Paco de Narvaez and Mariano Gonzalez, but Audi responded with single
goals from Roldan and Lucas Lalor. At
the end of the first three chukkers of play, Audi held a 4-2 lead.
Gonzalez cut the Audi lead to a single goal in the fourth
with a penalty conversion. Ganzi
responded with his second goal of the game to maintain a two goal 5-3 lead with
two chukkers left to play.
Three straight goals from Audi in the fifth had them
ahead 8-3 before Equuleus could reply.
Roldan opened with a penalty goal followed by individual goals from
Ganzi and Lalor, 8-3. Equuleus launched
an attack that garnered hem a pair of goals from de Narvaez, but at the end of
the fifth, Audi continued to hold the lead, 8-5.
Ganzi’s fourth goal of the game was the last offense
provided by either team as Equuleus could do little to break through the Audi
defense. The 9-5 win kept Audi undefeated, 2-0, and
assured it a spot in the tournament quarterfinals. The loss dropped the Equuleus record to 1-1.
Ganzi led all scoring with four goals on the day. Roldan added three goals and Lalor registered
two goals in the win.
De Narvaez accounted for three of the Equuleus goals. Gonzalez scored twice.
VILLA
DEL LAGO 16, ZACARA 13
Sixteen-year-old Jared Zenni lit it up in the opening chukker
of the 1 pm game for Villa Del Lago, scoring three consecutive goals before
Zacara could react. His first goal was a
brilliantly executed cut shot off of the backline with a second goal coming
just 30 seconds later. Zenni made it 3-0
at the midway point of the period. Marcos
Llambias finally got Zacara in the scoring column with a penalty goal to end
the chukker. Villa Del Lago rode off the
field at the end of the first period with a 3-1 lead.
Jeff Blake opened the second chukker with a Zacara goal. Villa Del Largo responded with goals from
Augustin Obregon and Zenni. Blake
notched his second goal of the game and Llambias scored on a 40-yard penalty
shot, cutting the Villa Del Lago lead to a single goal, 5-4 to end the chukker.
Zacara wasted little time in the third, with Gonzalo Del
Tour taking the opening throw-in down the field to score with just 18 seconds
off of the clock. Del Tour converted a
penalty goal for Zacara’s first lead of the day. Pelon Escapite tied it up on a penalty conversion
and took the following throw-in down the field for his second goal and a 7-6
Villa Del Lago lead. Del Tour tied it
again at 7-7, but consecutive goals from Escapite and Zenni (a backhand cut
shot) closed out the chukker with Villa Del Lago sitting on top of a 9-7 halftime
lead.
Magoo Laprida burst out of the opening throw-in of the
fourth chukker and raced downfield to score, extending the Vila Del Lago lead
to three goals, 10-7. Zacara rallied
with three straight goals to knot it up at 10-10 with Llambias scoring on a pair
of penalty shots and Del Tour cutting the ball through the goal posts for the final
goal of the period.
The pace of play continued to escalate into the fifth
with Laprida putting Villa Del Lago ahead, 11-10. Blake added a goal for Zacara on a penalty
conversion, but a second goal from Laprida had Villa Del Lago ahead, 12-11 at
the end of the chukker.
Escapite opened the final chukker with a goal from the
field for a 13-11 advantage followed by a goal from Laprida (from the
throw-in), 14-11. Blake scored on a
penalty goal and Del Tour added a goal from the field, as the lead was cut to a
single goal, 14-13, once again. Escapite
added a penalty goal and Laprida closed out the game with his fifth goal of the
game for a 16-13 victory.
Del Tour led all scoring with six goals. Llambias scored five times and Blake added a
pair of penalty goals.
Zenni, Laprida and Escapite scored five goals apiece in
the win. Obregon added a goal.
PIAGET
11, ERG 8
Piaget (1-1) closed out the day by posting an 11-8 win
over ERG (0-2) in a game in which they never trailed.
After a tenuous start, Juan Bollini jumped on the ball
and carried it over 200 yards for the opening goal and a 1-0 Piaget lead. Agustin Merlos converted a penalty shot for a
goal to tie it up at 1-1.
Miguel Astrada scored in the second period as both teams struggled
to control of the ball. Piaget was up,
2-1. Merlos converted a 60-yard Safety
to keep it all even at 2-2 to end the chukker.
The pace picked up in the third with Jason Crowder’s
first goal of the game putting Piaget back on top, 3-2. Astrada took the following throw-in 150 yards
down the field to make it 4-2. The Piaget
defense swarmed ERG, forcing errors and fouls.
Two more penalty goals from Astrada ended the third chukker as Piaget
left the field at halftime with a 6-2 lead.
Merlos and Astrada exchanged penalty goals in the opening
minutes of the second half, but Piaget held on to the 7-3 edge. Another penalty goal from Merlos was answered
by a goal from the field from Crowder, 8-4.
Astrada scored the last goal of the chukker on another penalty shot, and
Piaget took a 9-4 lead into the fifth.
ERG team captain Scott Wood opened the fifth chukker with
a goal from the field, followed by a goal from Luis Escobar. Astrada’s seventh goal of the match ended the
chukker with Piaget coasting on a four goal 10-6 lead with one chukker left to
play.
Merlos added two more goals to the ERG total, but Melissa
Ganzi’s sixth chukker score gave Piaget the 11-8 win.
Astrada led the Piaget attack with seven goals. Crowder scored two goals and Ganzi and
Bollini added single goals in the win.
Merlos accounted for six goals for ERG. Wood and Escobar added single goals in the
loss.