Camilo Bautista scores winning goal in final second win over Crab Orchard

Camilo Bautista scores winning goal in final second win over Crab Orchard

By Alex Webbe

 

Over 2,000 polo fans were on hand as Las Monjitas lined up to play Adolfo Cambiaso and the powerful Crab Orchard team on Field number five in the quarterfinals of the 2011 US Open Championships at the International Polo Club in Wellington.

So anticipated was this matchup that virtually all of the fieldside parking places were reserved by abandoned cars hours before the game began as one after another would drop off a car before driving back to the Isla Carroll West Field for the earlier quarterfinal between Lechuza and Bendabout.

Crab Orchard started out slowly even cautiously while Las Monjitas played like they had nothing to lose.  Las Monjitas put up the first two goals on a goal from the field from Agustin Merlos followed by a penalty conversion from the Argentine 9-goaler.  Adolfo Cambiaso answered for Crab Orchard with a single goal from the field and the chukker ended with Las Monjitas guarding a one goal, 2-1 lead.

Cambiaso tied it up in the second , but Santiago Toccalino kept Las Monjitas in the lead with his first goal of the game, and Las Monjitas took a 3-2 lead into the third period.

A disjointed Crab Orchard offense was held scoreless for the next seven minutes while Las Monjitas got goals from Merlos and Eduardo Astrada.  The first half ended with Las Monjitas leading 5-2.

The Las Monjitas strategy seemed to be to double Adolfo Cambiaso down the field and try to force him to make a play, and for the first half it appeared to be working. 

Las Monjitas got two penalty goals in the fourth chukker from Merlos while Crab Orchard settled for a single goal from Hilario Ulloa.  The Las Monjitas lead was extended to four goals, 7-3, as the period ended

Crab Orchard staged a fifth chukker rally, converting two penalty goals (one from Nachi du Plessis and another from Ulloa).  For the first time all afternoon, Crab Orchard outscored Las Monjitas, and cut the lead to a single goal, 7-6.

Hard riding was the rule in the final chukker, with Crab Orchard finally knotting it up at 7-7 on a penalty conversion by Ulloa, following a technical on Astrada.  A hard bump put Cambiaso on the ground for nearly four minutes, but he remounted and the game played on.  With seconds on the clock a Las Monjitas rush towards the Crab Orchard goal had team captain Camilo Bautista scoring the winning goal in the 8-7 contest.

The victory moves Las Monjitas into next week’s semifinals while Crab Orchard reflects on a disappointing season that saw them watching the finals of all three legs of the Triple Crown from the sidelines.

 

Lechuza Scores 14-10 triumph over Bendabout

 

Lechuza rebounds from a two goal halftime deficit to score a 14-10 win over Bendabout and capture the first semifinal berth in the 2011 United States Open Championship at the International Polo Club in Wellington Saturday afternoon.

Lechuza took an early 3-1 lead after the opening chukker, getting single goals from Sapo Caset (penalty conversion), Victor Vargas and 10-goaler Juan Martin Nero.  Bendabout responded with a single penalty goal from Julio Arellano.

Bendabout took the field in the second chukker and quietly turned the tables on Lechuza, scoring four goals and allowing the high-flying Lechuza offense a single goal from the field from Caset.  Arellano picked up his second penalty goal of the game as Gillian Johnston scored a goal on a 150 yard breakaway from the throw-in and narrowly missed on another 100 yard plus effort.   Sugar Erskine added two more from the field, his last one on a well-placed pass from Johnston.  At the end of the second chukker Bendabout owned a 5-4 lead and had the momentum going in its direction.

Both defenses tightened in the third period with Johnston scoring the only goal of the chukker.  At the end of the first half Bendabout held a 6-4 lead.

“I thought that we played the first half a little soft,” said Lechuza 9-goaler Sapo Caset.  “They came out on their best horses and played really hard, and we didn’t respond well.  They were quicker to the ball and they were making plays.  At halftime we told ourselves that we had to change our attitude and play our game,” he added.

Erskine opened the second half with his third goal of the game before Caset rolled off four straight goals for Lechuza (three on penalty shots) to take an 8-7 lead.  Erskine tied it up, 8-8, with his second goal of the period, but another Caset penalty conversion ended the chukker with Lechuza in front, 9-8.

Vargas broke free again in the fifth chukker to score for the second time for a 10-8 lead.  Erskine kept it close with his fifth goal of the contest.  Lechuza took a narrow 10-9 lead into the final chukker of play.

Caset scored the first goal of the final chukker but Arellano converted a penalty shot to keep Bendabout within striking distance, 11-10, but that would be as close as Bendabout would get.  Two more goals from Caset and a goal from Nero closed out the game with Lechuza celebrating a 14-0-10 win and a berth in Wednesday’s semifinals.

“It was my first time in the saddle in the last 25 days,” smiled Lechuza team captain Victor Vargas.  Vargas had broken a couple of ribs a month earlier in a match and had been sidelined.  “It was very hot today,” he said, “and I was getting very tired at the end, but it felt good,” he beamed.

“We played a great first half,” lamented Bendabout 9-goaler Julio Arellano, America’s highest rated player.  “We just made too many fouls in the second half and never got any kind of rhythm going.”

The victories today for Lechuza and Las Monjitas will pit them against one another in next Wednesday’s semifinals of the US Open in a 4 pm contest.