Los
Machitos/Heathcote earns final berth in Iglehart Cup
By Alex Webbe
Los Machitos/Heathcote (Steve Lefkowitz, Sterling Giannico,
Matias Magrini and Hilario Ulloa) lurched out to an early 5-1 lead over Faraway
in the semifinals of the 20-goal Iglehart Cup at the International Polo club
Wednesday afternoon before riding on to win the game and earn a berth in the
final on Saturday against the winner Thursday’s match between Palm Beach Illustrated
and Villa Del Lago.
Hilario Ulloa scored three goals from the field in the
opening chukker as Los Machitos/Heathcote took the early 3-1 lead. Faraway was held to s single penalty goal
(40-yard shot) from Mariano Gonzalez in the first period.
Ulloa scored his fourth goal of the game to open the second
chukker, and teammate Matias Magrini made it 5-1 with his first goal of the
game. Faraway responded with single goals
from Gonzalez and Santiago Chavanne.
After two periods of play, Los Machitos/Heathcote sat on top of a 5-3
lead.
Both defenses tightened up in the third. Magrini converted a 40-yard penalty shot for
a goal, 6-3. Gonzalez answered back for
Faraway with a short penalty shot that ended the first half with Faraway
trailing by two goals, 6-4.
The two teams traded goals in the fourth period. Magrini scored twice for Los
Machitos/Heathcote while Gonzalez did the same for Faraway. All four goals were scored on penalty
shots. With two chukkers left in
regulation play, Los Machitos/Heathcote remained in control in an 8-6 game.
Ulloa and Magrini (40-yard penalty conversion) scored the
first two goals of the fifth period to give Los Machitos/Heathcote a four goal
advantage, 10-6. Gonzalez cut the lead
back to three, 10-7 with his sixth goal of the match. Ulloa added another goal from the field,
11-7, but it was a penalty goal from Gonzalez that ended the chukker with
Faraway down by three goals, 11-8.
Sterling Giannico got into the scoring side of things for Los
Machitos/Heathcote in the sixth period by scoring twice from the field and
extending the lead to five goals, 13-8.
Single goals from Chavanne and Faraway team captain Hutton Goodman cut
the deficit back to three goals, but that was as close as they could get when
the final horn sounded.
Gonzalez led all scoring with seven goals (six scored on
penalty conversions). Chavanne scored
twice and Goodman added a goal in the loss.
Ulloa led the Los
Machitos/Heathcote scoring with six goals.
Magrini added five and Giannico was credited with two goals for the win.
Iglehart Cup play continues on Thursday when Villa Del Lago (Jim
Zenni, Agustin Obregon, Polito Pieres and Inaki Laprida) meets Palm Beach
Illustrated (Jared Zenni, Guille Aguero, Marianito Obregon and Carlucho
Arellano) in a 10am contest to decide the other Iglehart Cup finalist.