LesLions scorch Salkeld; Zacara handles Twelve Oaks, 11-9
ByAlex Webbe
Les Lions scorched Salkeld, 11-2, in a face-saving contestat the Cowdray Park Polo Club in Veuve Clicquot Gold Cup competition Thursdayafternoon. Salkeld (Nick Clarke, JamesBeim, Miguel Novillo Astrada and Max Routledge) and Les Lions (Henry Fisher, AgustinMerlos, Sebastian Merlos and Clinton McCarthy playing for Joachim Gottschalk)put their 1-2 records on the line in the opening match of the day with LesLions looking like a super power in the game.
Les Lions took the early lead, scoring twice in theopening chukker while holding Salkeld to a single goal. Agustin and Sebastian Merlos rode off thefield at the end of the first chukker with a 2-1 Les Lions lead.
Goals were hard to come by in the second period. Les Lions scored the only goal of the chukker. Les Lions stretched their lead to two goals,3-1 at the end of the second chukker.
Salkeld and Les Lions traded single goals in the thirdchukker in choppy play. Les Lions held atwo goal lead, 4-2, at the end of the first half.
Les Lions finally exhibited the promising offensive powerwithin their lineup in the fourth chukker, scoring four consecutive goals whilekeeping Salkeld off of the scoreboard. Les Lions boasted a six goal, 8-2 advantage after four chukkers.
Two more fifth chukker goals by Les Lions went unansweredas Salkeld continued to look for any trace of an offense. With one chukker left to play, Les Lions saton top of an eight goal, 10-2 advantage.
Les Lions scored one last goal in the final chukker oftheir game against Salkeld, holding their opponents scoreless for the thirdconsecutive chukker in an 11-2 victory at Cowdray Park Polo Club. The win boosts the Les Lions record to 2-2while Salkeld ends their run for the Gold Cup for the British Open with a 1-3record.
ZACARA11, TWELVE OAKS
The final match of the preliminary rounds of play in the2013 Veuve Clicquot Gold Cup for the British Open featured two undefeated teamsin Twelve Oaks (Jack Hyde, Magoo Laprida, Marcos Di Paola and Inaki Laprida)and Zacara (Facundo Pieres, Lyndon Lea, Rodrigo Andrade and Matt Perry).
Zacara and Twelve Oaks got to it from the openingthrow-in, racing up and down the field, taking turns scoring until Zacara establisheda 6-4 two goal lead after the second chukker. The combination of Zacara’s Facundo Pieres and Rodrigo Andrade, once againdominated the attack while the Laprida brothers (Magoo and Inaki) continuedmaking the case for Twelve Oaks.
What started out looking like a goal-fest adopted adefensive tone to in the third chukker. Thetwo teams exchanged single scores in the third. At the end of the first half, Zacara maintained their two goal lead witha 7-5 score.
An early Twelve Oaks score in the fourth cut the Zacara leadto a single goal, 7-6. Zacara respondedwith a goal of their own, and the chukker ended with Zacara on top, 8-6.
The highly-touted Zacara offense was limited to a singlegoal in the fifth period, but the defense held. Twelve Oaks went scoreless, and Zacara extended their lead to threegoals, 9-6, with one period of play remaining in regulation time.
Twelve Oaks had their most offensively productive chukkerof the day in the sixth. Three TwelveOaks goals cut into the Zacara lead, but two more goals from Lyndon Lea’sfoursome were enough to carry the day for them in an 11-9 win over a previouslyundefeated Twelve Oaks (3-1) team.
Zacara finished preliminary rounds of play with a perfect4-0 record, and appear poised to try to sweep the English high-goal season,having already captured the Queens Cup in June.
The pairings for the quarterfinals are yet to beannounced with play scheduled to begin on Saturday, July 13. There is shootout slated to take place betweenBlack Bears (2-2), Enigma (2-2) and La Bamba de Areco (2-2) on Friday, July 12at 11AM.