Merchant Hub roughed up by Villa Del Lago in Joe
Barry Cup loss
By Alex Webbe
Villa Del Lago (Jim Zenni,
Agustin Obregon, Polito Pieres and Julian de Lusarreta) spotted Merchant Hub
(Scott Swerdlin, Marianito Obregon, Facundo Obregon and Luis Escobar) one goal
by handicap before routing them 18-10 in their 20-goal debut in Joe Barry
Memorial Cup play at the International Polo Club Wednesday afternoon.
To be fair, it must be
understood that the Villa Del Lago operation has been in place for years while
the Merchant Hub team played their first game as a unit on Wednesday.
“We’ve got to play harder,”
said veteran Luis Escobar who served as the field general for Merchant
Hub. “This was our first time playing
together,” he added. “It’s going to take
a little while before we define our roles on the field.”
Villa Del Lago, still
stinging from their loss in Sunday’s Herbie Pennell Cup final after leading by
five goals, had their game faces on, and Polito Pieres was on fire.
Pieres scored the first
goal of the game on a 60-yard penalty shot to tie it at 1-1 (Merchant Hub got
one goal by handicap). Facundo Obregon
responded for Merchant Hub with a goal from the field on a great individual
effort, 2-1. Agustin Obregon (cousin of
Marianito and Facundo Obregon) scored consecutive goals to put Villa Del Lago in
front, 3-2, and from then on it was all Villa Del Lago. Villa Del Lago continued to press the
Merchant Hub defenders, giving up a pair of penalty goals to Pieres to end the
first chukker on top of a 5-2 score.
Escobar scored the opening
goal of the second period on a 60-yard penalty shot, 5-3, but the rally was
short-lived. Agustin Obregon scored
another goal from the field, sandwiched between penalty conversions from
Pieres. After two periods of play Villa
Del Lago led by five goals, 8-3.
Villa Del Lago added three
more goals in the third on shots from Agustin Obregon, Pieres and Julian de
Lusarreta. Scott Swerdlin scored the
only goal of the chukker for Merchant Hub as the Villa Del Lago lead swelled to
seven goals, 11-4.
Pieres added three more
goals from the field in the fourth chukker as Merchant Hub struggled to find an
answer. Facundo Obregon kept his team
from getting blanked with the team’s only goal of the chukker. With two periods left in regulation time,
Villa Del Lago was cruising along with a nine goal, 14-5 advantage.
Fifth chukker goals from
Marianito Obregon and Escobar (who executed an impressive backhanded cut shot
through the goalposts) pared the lead back to seven goals, 14-7, but Villa Del
Lago continued to press. Pieres scored
his tenth goal of the game on a 40-yard penalty shot and de Lusarreta added a
goal from the field. At the end of the
fifth chukker, Villa Del Lago enjoyed a16-7 lead.
Escobar seemed to find the
range in the sixth, scoring three times for Merchant Hub (once on a 40-yard
penalty conversion), but Villa Del Lago still had fire in the oven. Agustin Obregon scored his fifth goal of the
match from the field while Pieres converted another 60-yard penalty shot for
the 18-10 win.
Pieres led all scoring with
eleven goals (seven on penalty conversions). Agustin Obregon added five goals and de
Lusarreta scored twice in the win.
Escobar’s five goals (two on penalty shots) set the pace for Merchant
Hub. Facundo Obregon scored twice while
teammates Swerdlin and Marianito Obregon added single goals in the loss.
Play continues in the Joe
Barry Memorial Cup on Thursday with Coca-Cola (Gillian Johnston, Sugar Erskine,
Julio Arellano and Mason Wroe) facing Orchard Hill (Steve Van Andel, Lucas
Criado, Facundo Pieres and Remy Muller) at 10AM followed by a 1PM contest
between Lechuza Caracas (Victor Vargas, Marcos Alberdi, Juan Martin Nero and
Martin Espain) and Enigma (Jerome Wirth, Jeff Hall, Matias MacDonough and
Carlucho Arellano).