La Indiana and Talandracas Impress in 2019 Cartier Queen’s Cup Debuts
The second day of the 2019 Cartier Queen’s Cup produce two impressive performances from Talandracas and La Indiana in commanding victories. Talandracas defeated La Bamba de Areco 14-8 at Coworth Park to open the day, while La Indiana claimed the 15-11 victory over VS King Power at Les Lions.
The opening game of the day was a foul ridden affair between La Bamba de Areco and Talandracas, who combined for 29 fouls in the game. The tightly marked game left little space for open runs to goal, with seven penalty attempts awarded to each team. Talandracas’ Francisco Elizalde finished a perfect 7 for 7 from the penalty line, while La Bamba de Areco missed three attempts, resulting in a disadvantage on the scoreboard. Taking control of the game in strong third and fourth chukkas, the continual offense from the penalty line led to an impressive 14 goals in the convincing six-goal victory.
The slow pace began from the opening whistle with six fouls in the opening chukka, with Elizalde converting both attempts from the penalty line, while Julian de Lusarreta added a goal from the field to hold a 3-1 lead. The fouls turned in favour of La Bamba de Areco in the second chukka as Juan Martin Nero converted both of his attempts to restore the tie in what began as a back and forth contest. Before the end of the half, Talandracas took control of the game, with Elizalde proving to be accurate from the penalty line and de Lusarreta accurate from the field to pace the Talandracas attack. The defensive pressure of Talandracas was a factor in limiting La Bamba de Areco to just one shot over the third and fourth chukkas, resulting in Talandracas increasing their lead to three. Improved discipline produced fewer attempts from the penalty line, leaving the outcome to open play, where Alejandro Muzzio stepped up with an impressive final chukka, adding one goal and two assists to seal the 14-8 victory to begin their play in the Cartier Queen’s Cup.
The final game of the day featured a dominating match from La Indiana, led by the astounding 11-goal, three assist performance from Facundo Pieres. The 10-goaler was at his best, working flawlessly with Rodrigo Andrade to receive the ball on the run and attack with accuracy. Shooting 75% from the field and 100% from the penalty line, La Indiana was in top form against a VS King Power team that fell behind early and were unable to slow the potent attack of La Indiana in the defeat.
A fast pace was set early by La Indiana, scoring four quick goals to begin the game, two each from Jimbo Fewster and Facundo Pieres, utilizing a passing attack that allowed La Indiana to gather the ball with speed on runs to goal. Winning all six throw-ins in the opening chukka kept VS King Power on the defensive, attempting to slow the accurate passing of La Indiana. Responding with five shots in the second chukka, VS King Power tried to fight their way back into the game, but were unable to reduce the deficit, converting just one of their shots to continuing trailing by three on the scoreboard. La Indiana asserted their style of play to end the half, centred around Facundo Pieres, who added two field goals, while setting up Dillon Bacon, substituting for Michael Bickford, for the third goal of the chukka to end the first half leading 9-3.
The efficient La Indiana offense carried over into the second half, with the duo of Facundo Pieres and Rodrigo Andrade combining for all three La Indiana field goals to begin the second half, extending the lead to eight. VS King Power’s Polito Pieres worked tirelessly throughout the second half to reduce the deficit, scoring five goals over the final three chukkas, but La Indiana maintained their lead until the final chukka, leaving VS King Power with too large a deficit to overcome. Despite conceding four goals in the final chukka, La Indiana cruised to the commanding 15-11 victory.