Park Place and Valiente Advance in 2018 Cartier Queen’s Cup Quarter-Finals
The first two quarter-finals of the 2018 Cartier Queen’s Cup saw Park Place defeat RH Polo 9-5 at Zacara Polo Ground, while Valiente survived a close game against Talandracas, winning 11-10 on the Duke’s Ground at Guards Polo Club.
The opening quarter-final saw Park Place overcome a 3-0 deficit due to early foul trouble and display an exceptional defensive performance as they contained the strong duo of Sapo Caset and Rodrigo Andrade. Managing just six shots on goal in the game, RH Polo faced an organized Park Place defence with Tommy Beresford and Hilario Ulloa using effective backhands to stop the usually potent RH Polo attack. After missing their first three attempts, Park Place shot an efficient 8 for 11 for the remander of the game to complete the convincing four-goal victory.
The opening chukka saw back and forth action with neither team able to find the scoresheet and no penalty attempts awarded. That changed in the second chukka, as four Park Place fouls resulted in two penalty conversions for Caset, along with a field goal from Andrade to gain the three-goal advantage. Park Place failed to find the scoresheet again as the possession battle was lost due to the increased foul count. Cleaning up their foul issues, Park Place quickly erased the three-goal deficit, outscoring RH Polo 3-0 in the third chukka, with two goals from Juan Britos and a nice finish from Andrey Borodin to tie the game leading into halftime.
Park Place continued their momentum into the second half as RH Polo was kept off the scoresheet for the second consecutive chukka. Dominating open play, Park Place converted all three shots from the field with none better than another run completed by Borodin as a perfectly hit cut shot found the goal to extend the lead. Needing to mount a comeback, RH Polo failed to record a shot in the fifth chukka as the deficit widened and Park Place increased their lead to four. With the game all but decided, Britos scored his fifth goal of the game, sending Park Place into the semi-finals with the 9-5 victory.
The second quarter-final began with a collision that saw both Adolfo Cambiaso and Julian de Lusarreta go down, with de Lusarreta ultimately unable to continue due to injury. Juan Gris Zavaleta stepped in to the 7-goaler’s spot as Talandracas looked to advance to the semi-finals. Despite a combined 23 fouls in the game, Valiente and Talandracas only received four and three penalty attempts respectively. Displaying a fast-paced attacking style, both teams finished 7 for 13 from the field with the difference coming via the penalty line as Valiente converted one more attempt for the narrow victory.
The game began with the collision between Cambiaso and de Lusarreta with a lengthy injury time-out leading to a restart of the game just minutes in. Valiente gained the early advantage, converting three of their first four shot attempts to hold a 3-1 lead as Talandracas looked to adjust to the new teammate in Zavaleta. Elizalde scored all three Talandracas goals in the opening half as they looked to keep pace with a Valiente team that got two goals each from Hugo Lewis and Magoo Laprida to hold the narrow 4-3 lead.
Alejandro Muzzio stepped up in the absence of de Lusarreta in the second half, playing his best game of the tournament thus far, scoring three goals in the fourth chukka. Perfect 4 for 4 shooting from Talandracas in the chukka saw them tie the game, with Zavaleta working effectively to fill in on Talandracas. Valiente quickly responded with a five-goal chukka, led by two impressive goals from Cambiaso to regain the two-goal lead. A goal from Hughes Carmignac in the sixth chukka brough Talandracas within one, but their comeback fell short as Valiente held on for the one-goal victory to advance to the semi-finals.