Audi, Valiente to meet in US Open semifinals
By Alex Webbe
A balanced Audi attack jumped out to a 9-7 halftime lead before going on to gallop off with a 14-10 win over Zacara in the quarterfinals of the 2011 US Open Championships at the International Polo Club in Wellington Sunday morning.
Three Pieres brothers took the field in the morning matchup with ten-goaler Gonzalito Pieres and 7-goaler Nico Pieres saddling up for the Audi team. Facundo Pieres, another 10-goaler, rode for Zacara in the playoff match.
Gonzalito Pieres scored the first goal of the game on a 60-yard penalty shot. Nico Pieres scooped the ball up with his mallet in the ensuing throw-in and raced 150 yards down the field to score to make it 2-0, Audi.. Zacara’s Facundo Pieres responded with a goal from the field followed by a goal from teammate Sebastian Merlos to tie it up at 2-2. Facundo Pieres scored a go-ahead goal, as Valiente took its first lead of the match, 3-2. With time running out in the opening chukker, Nico Pieres added a second goal to even it up at 3-3 at the end of the chukker.
Facundo Pieres wasted little time in the second chukker putting Zacara ahead 4-3, and less than a minute later blasted the ball through the Audi goalposts from over 100 yards out for a 5-3 Zacara lead. Rodrigo Andrade scored his first goal of the day to cut the Zacara lead to a single goal, 5-4, but Facundo Pieres was just getting warmed up. Two more goals from the talented 10-goaler had Zacara in front by three goals, 7-4. Nico Pieres answered back with a goal for Audi in the closing seconds of the chukker, but Zacara held a 7-5 edge going into the third period.
Gonzalito Pieres converted a 60-yard penalty shot to open the third chukker followed by a tying goal from Andrade, 7-7. Nico Pieres scored again and Andrade closed out the period with his third goal of the game and a 9-7 halftime lead for Audi, but that was only the beginning of Zacara’s undoing. For the next two chukkers, Audi would stifle the powerful Zacara attack, holding them scoreless for a total of three consecutive chukkers (third, fourth and fifth) as Audi’s Brazilian Secretary of Defense, Andrade, turned defense into offense, turning aside potential threats and turning defense into offense as Audi rolled on.
Gonzalito Pieres added two more goals in the fourth complimented by a goal from Nico Pieres for a 12-7 lead. Goals from team captain Marc Ganzi and Nico Pieres in the fifth stretched the Audi lead to seven goals, 14-7.
It wasn’t until the final chukker that Zacara got back in the scoring column. Sebastian finally broke through to score Zacara’s first goal since the second chukker. A sixty-yard goal from Carlitos Gracida and a seemingly futile shot from over 100 yards out that split the goal posts for Facundo Pieres ended the game with Audi riding away with a 14-10 win and a berth in Wednesday’s semifinals.
VALIENTE 10, HAWKS 9
The Hawks’ Number 2 player, Freddie Mannix, Jr., had been averaging five goals a game coming in to the quarterfinal match with Valiente, and scored the first goal of the game, but it would be the play of the opposing Number 2, Polito Pieres, who would make the difference in Valiente’s 10-9 win that would boost his team into a semifinal game against Audi Wednesday afternoon at 2pm.
A penalty goal from Pieres and a goal from the field from Nacho Astrada would give Valiente an early 2-1 lead as the first chukker ended.
The Hawks took control of the game in the second period, getting a pair of goals from Freddie Mannix, Jr. and two goals from Mariano Gonzalez. Valiente only managed a single goal from Pieres as the Hawks flew off with a 5-3 advantage after two periods of play.
Nacho Astrada converted a penalty shot for a goal in the third to cut the Hawks’ lead to a single goal. Pieres added another goal from the field, when he took the ensuing throw-in and raced 150 yards down the field for the tying score, 5-5. Julian Mannix put the Hawks back on top, 6-5, with his first goal of the game. The Hawks left the field at the end of the first half with a one goal lead.
Charges up and down the field were turned away until Valiente team captain, Bob Jornayvaz, picked the ball up deep in Valiente’s own territory and charged over 220 yards down the field for a goal to make it 6-6. Aguerre closed out the scoring in the fourth chukker with his first goal of the game. The Hawks continued to lead, 7-6.
Aguerre opened the fifth by converting a penalty shot for a goal and an 8-6 Hawks lead, but goals from nacho Astrada and Pieres knotted it up at 8-8 with one chukker to play.
Nacho Astrada tallied his fourth goal of the contest followed by a goal from Pieres for a 10-8 lead as the Hawks fought desperately to get back into the game. With just over 30 seconds left on the clock, Aguerre added a last Hawks goal. The final horn sounded seconds later and Valiente would take the game, 10-9, and land a berth in the semifinals of the 2011 US Open Championship against Audi.
Semifinal action is scheduled for Wednesday, April 13 with Audi meeting Valiente at 2pm followed by a 4pm semifinal contest between Las Monjitas and Lechuza.