8th Chukka Victory for Zacara Over Apes Hill
By Darlene Ricker
Zacara defeated Apes Hill 8-7 and Talandracas took King Power Foxes 11-10 on Day 13 of the 2016 Jaeger-LeCoultre Gold Cup for the British Open.
Both matches epitomized the meaning of a “down-to-the-wire” victory, with the first taking it to the extreme. Spectators held their breath for more than two hours as Apes Hill fought their way back from a seemingly insurmountable 6-2 halftime deficit. The core of the battle unfurled in the tense final chukkas.
It’s not uncommon, of course, for a polo match to be decided in the last two chukkas, but normally that means the fifth and sixth. This time the pivotal chukkas were not only the seventh, but also a rare eighth.
Apes Hill started the scoring in the first chukka as Mark Tomlinson peppered the goalmouth with two rapid-fire unanswered goals. Lucas Monteverde gave it right back, promptly scoring twice in the second. Zacara kept Apes Hill off the scoreboard for two consecutive chukkas (two and three), only to have their opponent return the favour in the fourth and fifth.
Tom Brodie had an outstanding day, scoring twice in the third to fuel the Zacara push. His back-to-back goals came on passes from the team’s 10-goaler, Pablo MacDonough, for whom Brodie provided powerful backup throughout the match. Brodie held the line in the sixth, making Zacara’s only goal. With all four players contributing to the scoreboard on the day, Apes Hill consistently inched forward to make the score 7-all at the end of the sixth.
Neither side scored in the first extra-time chukka. Finally in the eighth MacDonough sealed the deal on a 40-goal penalty for Zacara.
Zacara
Tom Brodie 3
Lyndon Lea 1
Lucas Monteverde 8
Pablo MacDonough 10
Apes Hill
Tom Beim 3
Mark Tomlinson 6
Eduardo Novillo Astrada 9
Alec White 4
Talandracas
Edouard Carmignac 0
Polito Pieres 9
Guillermo Caset 9
Tomas Beresford 4
King Power Foxes
Tal Srivaddhanaprabha 0
Hugo Lewis 2
Gonzalito Pieres 10
Facundo Pieres 10