Audi’s defense
highlights 7-5 Piaget Gold Cup victory
By Alex Webbe
In hopes of returning to the winner’s circle, Audi (Marc
Ganzi, Gonzalito Pieres, Rodrigo Andrade and Gonzalo Del Tour) returned three
of its 2011 USPA Piaget Gold Cup winning players in Marc Ganzi, Gonzalito
Pieres and Rodrigo Andrade, and it paid off in the team’s opening Gold Cup
match.
Battling back and forth with an Orchard Hill lineup (Steve
Van Andel, Santiago Chavanne, Pablo MacDonough and Matias MacDonough) that had
just competed in the final of the 26-goal C. V. Whitney Cup, Audi presented a
stellar defensive performance that shut down the Orchard Hill attack in three
of the game’s six chukkers, enroute to a 7-5 win.
In a guarded first chukker, Gonzalito Pieres scored the only
goal of the chukker with just 2:15 left to play. Orchard Hill was unable to break through a
stubborn Audi defense and trailed, 1-0.
Ten-goaler Pablo MacDonough got Orchard Hill on the
scoreboard with a goal from the field less than two minutes into the second
period, 1-1. Santi Chavanne gave Orchard
Hill their only lead of the game with a goal at the 1:19 mark, but the lead was
short-lived. Marc Ganzi scored in the
final 22 seconds of the chukker to knot it up at 2-2.
Gonzalo Del Tour scored the opening goal of the third
chukker, with Pablo MacDonough responding with a goal almost three-and-a-half
minutes into the period. Still set in a
defensive mode, there was no more scoring in the first half as it ended
deadlocked at three goals apiece, 3-3.
Del Tour’s second goal of the game put Audi on top, 4-3, in
the opening 90 seconds of the fourth.
Orchard Hill attacks were pushed aside and the chukker ended with
Orchard Hill being shutout for the second time in the match.
Audi managed just a single goal from the field from Pieres in
the fifth, but it was more than enough.
For the third time in the course of the game, Orchard Hill was unable to
score. With one chukker left in
regulation play, Audi held a two goal lead, 5-3.
Orchard Hill was unable to keep Audi off of the scoreboard
in the sixth period. Rodrigo Andrade
scored the first goal of the chukker in the opening 30 seconds, 6-3. Ganzi added his second goal of the game to
make it 7-3 with 5:46 left in the game.
Chavanne managed a goal from the field for Orchard Hill with 2:41 on the
clock, and Pablo MacDonough scored a final goal in the waning seconds of
play. Audi (1-0) rode off the field with
a first round 7-5 win, with Orchard Hill (0-1) trying to figure out what
happened.
Pablo MacDonough led the scoring on the day with just three
goals. Chavanne added two goals in a
losing effort. A balanced Audi attack
had Ganzi, Pieres and Del Tour coming up with two goals apiece. Andrade added a single goal in the win.
USPA Piaget Gold Cup play continues on Sunday with Crab
Orchard (George Rawlings, Magoo Laprida, Facundo Pieres and Matias Magrini)
facing Lechuza Caracas (Victor Vargas, Nico Pieres, Juan Martin Nero and Nico
Espain). Sunday’s 3pm contest will
feature Valiente (Bob Jornayvaz, Santi Torres, Sapo Caset and Adolfo Cambiaso),
the recent winner of the C. V. Whitney Cup, and Coca-Cola (Gillian Johnston,
Sebastian Merlos, Julio Arellano and Facundo Obregon).