Las Monjitas tramples Pony Express
20-8 in Piaget Gold Cup action
By Alex Webbe
Agustin Merlos scored eleven goals and a well-oiled Las Monjitas attack scored at will, absolutely destroying Pony Express 20-8 in 2011 USPA Piaget Gold Cup Sunday afternoon at the International Polo Club in Wellington.
After a 2-2 first chukker, Merlos took the bit between his teeth and scored five second period goals for Las Monjitas. Merlos converted two penalty shots and added three goals from the field in the second chukker, leaving a bewildered Pony Express team sitting in the dust.
Merlos scored two more goals in the third chukker, with Eduardo Astrada and Santiago Toccalino each adding a goal. Bautista Heguy managed a 60-yard penalty conversion for the only Pony Express score of the period. Las Monjitas ended the first half with a six goal, 11-5 lead over a Pony Express team that was struggling to find answers.
Merlos scored his sixth goal in the fourth and Las Monjitas got two goals apiece from Astrada and Toccalino. Heguy converted his fourth penalty goal of the game, but Las Monjitas led by ten goals, 16-6, with two chukkers left to play.
Las Monjitas got two goals from Toccalino and one from team captain Camilo Bautista in the fifth while holding Pony Express scoreless for the first time all afternoon. Las Monjitas now boasted an almost insurmountable 13 goal lead with just one chukker left to play.
Merlos’s eleventh goal of the game, a penalty shot, had Las Monjitas ahead 20-6 when a collision between Eduardo Astrada, Camilo Bautista and Pony Express team captain Bob Daniels put all three players on the ground. No serious injuries to horses or riders were found, and after a nearly twenty-minute delay and with Juan Curbelo replacing Astrada, the final two minutes of the game were played.
Bautista Heguy added another penalty goal to the Pony Express total, and Santiago Chavanne’s first goal of the game ended play with Las Monjitas celebrating a 20-8 win.
Second round action in the 2011 USPA Piaget Gold Cup will be played on Wednesday with games scheduled at 10am between Faraway (0-1) and the Hawks (1-0); 2pm between Crab orchard (1-0) and Valiente (0-1); and at 4pm featuring Zacara (1-0) and Bendabout.