Orchard Hill remains undefeated, 3-0,
in Joe Barry Cup play; Enigma and Coca-Cola register wins
By Alex Webbe
Orchard Hill (Steve Van Andel, Lucas Criado, Facundo Pieres
and Remy Muller) continued to impress as they racked up a 12-11 win over Lechuza
(Victor Vargas, Marcos Alberdi, Juan Martin Nero and Martin Espain) Thursday
afternoon in the 2015 20-goal Joe Barry memorial Cup at the International Polo
Club for a perfect 3-0 record in Bracket II competition.
Ten-goaler Facundo Pieres scored the first goal of the game
in the opening minute of play followed by a goal from Lucas Criado for a 2-0
lead. The Orchard Hill defense held
solid, blanking Lechuza Caracas in the first chukker of play.
Lechuza Caracas 10-goaler, Juan Martin Nero, finally got his
team on the scoreboard two minutes into the second period, 2-1. Criado took control of the ball in the next
two consecutive throw-ins, and raced down the field for goals, 4-1. Lechuza Caracas rallied for the final two
goals of the chukker, with Martin Espain scoring at the 1:56 mark, and teammate
Marcos Alberdi splitting the Orchard Hill goalposts with just 27 seconds on the
clock. Orchard Hill continued to lead, but the margin
had been cut to a single goal, 4-3.
Third chukker goals from Criado and Pieres had Orchard Hill
leading by three goals, 6-3, but Lechuza Caracas staged another
mini-rally. Nero scored with just two
minutes on the clock, 6-4, and Alberdi added a goal with just 27 seconds
showing. The Orchard Hill lead remained
at one goal at the end of the first half, 6-5.
Lechuza Caracas team captain, Victor Vargas tied the game at
6-6 in the opening minute of the fourth period.
Two minutes later, Remy Muller put a goal on the scoreboard for Orchard
Hill to take back the lead for Orchard Hill, 7-6. Pieres closed out the period with a 30-yard
penalty conversion as Orchard Hill rode off the field with a two goal, 8-6
lead.
Orchard Hill tore into the Lechuza Caracas defense in the
fifth, scoring four consecutive goals.
Pieres and Criado each added a pair of goals to the Orchard Hill,
stretching the lead to six goals, 12-6.
Nero answered back by taking the following throw-in and galloping down
the field for the final goal of the chukker.
With one period left in regulation time, Orchard Hill held a five goal,
12-7 advantage. Lechuza Caracas made a run at Orchard Hill in the final period
of the game with Alberdi scoring on a back hand shot, 12-8, and Nero scoring from
the field less than a minute later as they cut the Orchard Hill lead to three
goals, 12-9, with 5:16 left to play.
Nero took advantage of an Orchard Hill foul by converting a 30-yard
penalty shot at 3:17, but time continued to run down with Orchard Hill content
to run out the clock. Alberdi scored the
final goal of the game with little to no opposition from Orchard Hill as they
celebrated the 12-11win.
Criado scored a game-high six goals, all from the field. Pieres scored just one of his five goals on a
penalty shot with Muller adding a goal for the victory. Nero scored five times for Lechuza Caracas (two
on penalty shots). Alberdi added two
goals with Vargas and Espain each scoring once in a losing effort.
Enigma 13, Merchant
Hub 11
Earlier in the afternoon, Jerome Worth’s Enigma team (Jerome
Wirth, Jeff Hall, Matias MacDonough and Carlucho Arellano) recorded their first
win of the 2015 season with a hard-fought 13-11 win over Merchant Hub (Scott
Swerdlin, Marianito Obregon, Facundo Obregon and Luis Escobar).
Carlucho Arellano scored the first goal of the game in the
opening 30 seconds of play to tie it at 1-1 (Merchant Hub received one goal by
handicap from the 20-goal Enigma team).
Nearly five scoreless minutes passed until Marianito Obregon gave the lead
to Merchant Hub on a goal from the field.
Matias MacDonough tied the score at 2-2 on a 30-yard penalty conversion
at the 1:40 mark to end the chukker.
MacDonough and Luis Escobar exchanged goals in the second
period to keep it all even at 3-3 until the Enigma offense exploded. Jeff Hall and Arellano scored single goals from
the field, and MacDonough converted a 60-yard penalty shot to end the chukker
with Enigma enjoying a 6-3 lead.
Goals were scarce in the third, in a scoreless first five minutes.
Facundo Obregon converted a 30-yard
penalty shot for a goal at the 2:14 mark 6-4.
On a great individual effort, Hall scored after making his way through
what seemed like the entire Merchant Hub team; scoring the goal on the nearside
(left) of his horse, 7-4. MacDonough
added the final score if the half with Enigma holding a comfortable four goal,
8-4 advantage.
Facundo Obregon converted a 30-yard penalty shot
two-and-a-half minutes into the fourth chukker, 8-5. MacDonough scored on a 60-yad penalty shot
for Enigma, 9-5. Consecutive goals from Facundo
Obregon cut the Enigma lead down to just two goals, 9-7. Arellano scored the final goal of the period
to keep Enigma in front, 10-7.
Fifth chukker goals from Facundo Obregon (penalty shot) and
Marianito Obregon (from the throw-in) brought Merchant Hub to within a goal of
the lead, 10-9. MacDonough converted a
short penalty shot, 11-9. Escobar scored
the final goal of the period, and the Enigma lead remained at a fragile one
goal, 11-10.
An early sixth chukker foul by Merchant Hub allowed MacDonough
the opportunity to extend the Enigma lead on a 30-yard penalty shot, which he
did for a 12-10 advantage. Escobar
countered with a goal from the field just a minute later, 12-11. Hall scored the final goal of the contest at
the 4:14 mark as Enigma held off a scrappy Merchant Hub attack for the final
four minutes of the game for the 13-11 victory.
MacDonough led the Enigma attack by scoring six of his
game-high seven goals on penalty conversions.
Hall and Arellano each scored three times for the win. Facundo Obregon scored six times for Merchant
Hub (four of them on penalty conversions).
Escobar and Marianito Obregon scored two goals each and the team
received one goal by handicap.
Play continues in the Joe Barry Memorial Cup on Saturday,
January 17th with Lucchese (2-0) facing Tonkawa (1-1) in a 10AM
game followed by a noon meeting between Audi (1-1) and CT Energia (0-2).
Coca-Cola 13, FlexJet
8
Evidently the name change (FlexJet was formerly competing as
Flight Options) didn’t agree with FlexJet (Melissa Ganzi Guille Aguero, Miguel
Novillo Astrada and Juan Bollini) as they found themselves on the losing end of
a 13-8 score at the hands of a talented Coca-Cola lineup (Gillian Johnston,
Sugar Erskine, Julio Arellano and Mason Wroe) Thursday morning.
Miguel Novillo Astrada scored the first goal of the day on a
40-yard penalty conversion, but that was FlexJet’s last offensive statement of
the chukker. Coca-Cola stormed back with
single goals from Mason Wroe, Gillian Johnston and Sugar Erskine. Wroe scored on a well-executed backhander
while Johnston’s score came on a 150-yard solo run for the goal. Erskine tapped one between the goalposts with
just 36 seconds on the clock for the 3-1 lead.
Coca-Cola continued to dominate in the second period with Julio
Arellano scoring for a 4-1 advantage.
Astrada connected on a 60-yard penalty shot for another FlexJet goal,
4-2. For the second time in as many
chukkers Johnston found herself out in front with the ball, carrying t down the
field for another goal for a 5-2 edge. Arellano
converted a 30-yard penalty shot for a goal and a 6-2 lead.
FlexJet perked up in the third, opening the chukker with
goals from Juan Bollini and Astrada (penalty shot), 6-4. Arellano got Coca-Cola
on the scoreboard with a 60-yard penalty goal, 7-4, with Astrada barreling the
ball through the goalposts from 50 yards in front of the goal for a 7-5
halftime score.
FlexJet was held scoreless in the fourth while Coca-Cola
continued to increase their lead. Goals from Arellano and Johnston accounted
for the only scoring. With two chukkers
left in regulation play, Coca-Cola led by four goals, 9-5. Defenders were at their best in the fifth with
attack after attack being turned aside.
Arellano and Astrada exchanged single goals and the chukker ended with
Coca-Cola in control of a 10-6 game.
Sixth chukker goals from Erskine scored the first goal of
the final chukker in the opening 20 seconds of play, 11-6, and Arellano added
another for a 12-6 advantage for Coca-Cola.
With just 3:48 left in the game, Guille Aguero scored his first goal of
the day for FlexJet, 12-7. Erskine
stole the ball from a FlexJet player and raced 240-yards for a goal that put
Coca-Cola in front, 13-7. Astrada scored the final goal of the game at
the :41 second mark as FlexJet suffered their first loss of the tournament,
(1-1). The Coca-Cola win was their first
in three outings (1-2).
Arellano scored six goals for Coca-Cola. Johnston and Erskine scored three goals
apiece with Wroe chipping in a goal for the victory. Astrada scored five goals for FlexJet. Bollini and Aguero each added a goal in the
loss.