La Indiana Completes Thrilling Victory Over La Bamba de Areco
The tenth day of play in the 2018 Cartier Queen’s Cup featured two exciting games as La Indiana edged La Bamba de Areco 10-9 on the Castle Ground at Flemish Farm, while RH Polo defeated Valiente 7-6 on the Duke’s Ground at Guards Polo Club.
The opening game of the day saw a back and forth affair with four lead changes as La Indiana looked to hand La Bamba de Areco their first loss of the tournament. The normally strong offensive performance of La Bamba de Areco was stifled in the first half as they were held to just one shot on goal, with La Indiana’s organized defense giving them the early lead. The game changed in the second half as La Bamba de Areco scored three consecutive goals in two minutes after Facundo Pieres was sent off after receiving two yellow cards. La Indiana’s defense was a factor late in the game as they created interceptions and turnovers that directly led to goals and the narrow one goal victory.
Foul trouble in the first chukka for La Indiana gave La Bamba de Areco the early two goal lead as David Stirling converted both of his penalty attempts. Meanwhile, La Indiana missed their first three shot attempts to remain scoreless in the opening chukka. The roles reversed in the second chukka, as La Bamba de Areco committed four fouls, losing the field advantage and conceding three goals to La Indiana. After an even third chukka, La Indiana held a slim one goal lead despite outshooting La Bamba de Areco 8-1, with all of La Bamba de Areco’s offense coming via Stirling on the penalty line.
The second half started in a heated manner, as Facundo Pieres received two yellow cards, leaving La Indiana down their 10-goaler for two minutes. La Bamba de Areco quickly capitalized, converting the penalty attempt and adding two goals in quick succession to grab the lead. La Bamba de Areco’s offense picked up in the second half as they shot at goal eight times, but an offensive push from La Indiana allowed them to reclaim the lead in a 3-0 fifth chukka, led by two goals from Pieres as he responded after being sent off. Consecutive goals from Zac Beim, playing in place of Jean-Francois Decaux, and Byron Watson brought La Bamba de Areco within one goal but they weren’t able to complete the comeback as La Indiana finished with the 10-9 victory.
The second game featured a match-up of undefeated teams as RH Polo faced Valiente, yet the teams produced different line-ups as Diego Cavanagh played in place of Adolfo Cambiaso and Facundo Sola substituted for Rodrigo Andrade after the first chukka. In a game of scoring runs, missed opportunities from the field resulted in a low scoring affair as the two teams combined to shoot just 2 for 14 in the second half. The difference in the game came down to the penalty line as Valiente converted just two of their six attempts, while RH converted three of their four attempts to claim the one goal victory and remain undefeated in the Cartier Queen’s Cup.
RH Polo held a commanding 4-0 lead into the second chukka, but that quickly disappeared as Valiente dominated the remainder of the chukka and the third chukka, scoring five consecutive goals to take the lead. Back-to-back penalty conversions for the duo of Magoo Laprida and Cavanagh led the comeback for Valiente as they finished the half in a 5-5 tie in a game that was tightly marked through the first three chukkas.
That style changed in the second half as play opened up, resulting in 14 total shots but with neither team able to convert their opportunities from the field, the score remained close. A penalty conversion from Caset tied the game heading into the final chukka, while Valiente struggled to convert their opportunities from the line and the field. A run from Caset with just minutes remaining gave RH Polo the lead and they were able to hold on to that lead to finish with the 7-6 victory.