Clinova Claims Their First Win in the 2018 Cartier Queen’s Cup
The ninth day of play in the 2018 Cartier Queen’s Cup featured just one game with Clinova finding their form to defeat Park Place 10-8 on Coworth Park Polo ground.
In a close game throughout with the teams often just one goal apart, it was Clinova that produced more offensive opportunities and took advantage of nine Park Place fouls to edge their opponents from the penalty line. After bouncing back from a slow start, Park Place pulled even due to the efforts of Juan Britos, who continued his strong play in the tournament with a six-goal performance. Ultimately, the balanced offense from Clinova, with Juan Gris Zavaleta, Nico Pieres and Malcolm Borwick all scoring multiple goals, proved to be the difference in the narrow two-goal victory.
In the opening chukka, Clinova’s Zavaleta stole the ball to set up a breakaway run that opened the scoring in the game, while Park Place failed to register a shot at goal. Clinova maintained their one goal lead by the end of the first half with the two teams trading goals, but Park Place was unable to gain the lead as the conceded possession with seven first half fouls. Although Clinova produced more offensive opportunities, they were unable to convert at a high rate, shooting just 2 for 7 in the first half, but made 2 of their 3 penalty attempts to hold the 4-3 lead.
The second half saw a stronger performance from Park Place, led by Britos who scored the final five goals for his team. Cleaning up their foul troubles and winning the throw-in battle proved to be effective for Park Place as they tied the game at 8-8 at the end of the fifth chukka. Clinova were equally effective at avoiding foul trouble as they committed just one second half foul, keeping Britos off the penalty line in the final two chukkas when the game was on the line. In the sixth and final chukka, Clinova pulled away as Zavaleta scored his third goal of the game and Borwick converted his third penalty attempt to seal the narrow 10-8 victory and pick up their first win of the 2018 Cartier Queen’s Cup.